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Cornell University

Web Accessibility Reviews

All Guidelines

49

If any keyboard shortcut only requires letter, number, punctuation, or symbol characters, an option exists to turn it off, remap to include CTRL or ALT modifiers, OR be active on focus only.

WGAC 2 criterion 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts (A)
Category Keyboard
ACT Rules

WCAG 2 criterion

2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts (Level A)

Tools and requirements

  • Keyboard

Test procedure

When using the keyboard to navigate through a webpage, check to see if any part of the page supports running functionality with any letter, number, punctuation, or symbol key on its own. (Arrow keys are NOT part of this criteria)

If there are functions that work using a letter, number, punctuation, or symbol key, mark a failure unless one of the following conditions are met

  • The function also requires the use of the CTRL or ALT (for Windows) or COMMAND or OPTION (for Mac).
  • The function only works when the user is focused on the element.
  • There is a way to disable the function.

You may come across this on certain virtual 3D room pages, or on certain maps.

AI Prompt