- Success Criterion 2.1.1
- Conformance level A
Control That Requires Precisely Timed Key Presses
2.1.1 — Keyboard
Scenario
Setting
A university's online course catalog
What’s wrong
Keyboard operable only with specific timing (hold, rapid double-press).
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 the control and try a normal single key press: if it only responds to a held key or rapid double-press, it fails.
How to fix
Accept normal key presses without timing requirements (no hold or rapid-press-only).
<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 university's online course catalog, this barrier is gone for blind users, people with motor disabilities — they can finish what they came here to do.
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)
Related scenarios
- Feature That Only Responds to Mouse Events, Not the Keyboard
- Element That Loses Focus the Instant It’s Reached by Keyboard
- Clickable Element Acting Like a Link With No Real Keyboard Role
- Clickable Div With No Keyboard Focus or Key Handling at All
- Focusable Element That Enter and Space Don’t Actually Activate
- Custom Dropdown That Can’t Be Operated by Keyboard Arrows