- Success Criterion 2.1.1
- Conformance level A
Drag-and-Drop Feature With No Keyboard Alternative
2.1.1 — Keyboard
Scenario
Setting
A government tax-filing portal
What’s wrong
Drag-and-drop as the only way to reorder/upload/move (no keyboard alternative) where endpoints — not path — matter.
Example
<div onclick="submitForm()">Submit</div>Why it matters
Blind users, people with motor disabilities, and anyone operating the interface without a pointer.
How to test
Tab to a reorder/upload/move feature and try arrow keys or a menu: if dragging with a mouse is the only way to complete it, it fails.
How to fix
Provide a keyboard alternative for reordering/moving (move-up/down buttons or a move-to menu).
<button onclick="submitForm()">Submit</button>A native button is focusable and triggers on Enter/Space automatically; a div needs all of that added by hand.
Outcome
On a government tax-filing portal, this barrier is gone for blind users, people with motor disabilities — they no longer have to work around this.
Who is affected
Blind users, people with motor disabilities, and anyone operating the interface without a pointer.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
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- Feature That Only Responds to Mouse Events, Not the Keyboard
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- Focusable Element That Enter and Space Don’t Actually Activate
- Custom Dropdown That Can’t Be Operated by Keyboard Arrows