Whenever I start navigating a website and press tab for the first time, where should my focus be? If your answer was ‘the logo’, let me explain the ideal option.
So, Where Should the First Tab Go?
According to WCAG 2.4.1 ‘Bypass Blocks’, we should offer ways to bypass blocks of content that are repeated on multiple pages. For this, the very first block that meets this rule is the navbar. If every time I go to a website, I need to tab through the entire navigation bar in order to get to the content I’m interested in, it can be pretty exhausting and frustrating.
Where We Should Aim the First Tab to
To bypass the navbar, we should include a “skip to main content” link. This link is often hidden for an aesthetic reason, since it’s easier for visual users to simply ignore the redundant content. This link should appear on the first tab and should disappear again on the next.
Navigating the web via keyboard can be a completely different experience compared to interpreting the content in a visual way. That is why it is so important to learn about it and have tools to generate equivalent experiences.
