2056316 - [a11y] Button and links removed from tab order

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, defect)

Description

[Claire Joeckel]

Attachment: Screenshot 2026-07-20 105012.png

Impacted Section/Element

HNT

Steps to Reproduce

On HNT, open DevTools. Inspect the links and "Open context menu" buttons in each of the shortcuts and content cards. While a screen reader is active, navigate through the shortcuts and content cards.

Expected Behavior

All buttons and links are in the tab order. None have the tabindex attribute.

Actual Behavior

All button and links but those in the first shortcut or the first content card of each section are removed from the tab order. The first buttons and links have tabindex="0" while the rest have tabindex="-1".

User Impact

Screen reader users cannot navigate among the content cards. Although the arrow key method is operable while no screen reader is running, NVDA, JAWS, and Narrator assign other functions to the the arrow keys, which blocks users of those screen readers from using them to navigate among the swatches.

WCAG 2.2 References

"- WCAG 2.1.1 - Keyboard

• WCAG 2.1.4 - Single Key Shortcuts"

Recommendations

Remove tabindex attributes in order to allow users to navigate using Tab and Shift + Tab.

Testing Environment

Any

Assistive Technology Used

Any

Further Reference

"- WebAIM: Keyboard Accessibility: Tabindex

• WebAIM: Keyboard Shortcuts for NVDA
• WebAIM: Keyboard Shortcuts for JAWS
• WebAIM: Using Narrator to Evaluate Web Accessibility"

Severity

2-Significant

Comment 1

[James Teh [:Jamie]]

(In reply to Claire Joeckel from comment #0)

Screen reader users cannot navigate among the content cards. Although the arrow key method is operable while no screen reader is running, NVDA, JAWS, and Narrator assign other functions to the the arrow keys, which blocks users of those screen readers from using them to navigate among the swatches.

It's true that screen readers intercept the arrow keys for browse mode, etc. However, in those modes, those commands will navigate through the links and buttons on the page, which will include the other items that are normally reachable with the arrow keys. So, nothing is unreachable here. Furthermore, a screen reader user could choose to temporarily disable browse mode, etc. if they wish.

The use of arrow keys here is intentional to declutter the tab order for keyboard users, since otherwise, a user would need to tab many times to reach subsequent sections.