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balaclavas - a must for website testing

When we test a web site, the first thing we do is stick our balaclavas on (back-to-front of course) to help us with our screen reader testing. We find not being able to see the screen is a good way to test how accessible a website is.

Do you think you could use a website with your eyes closed or your screen turned off? Not so quick, that's not your challenge!

We understand it's not easy to navigate round a website with just your keyboard, especially if you've never done it before. That's why we've listed a few handy keyboard commands to get you started:

1. Tab – this will move the focus from one link to the next. An accessible site will have an easy-to-see background colour on all focussed links to help usability
2. Shift and Tab – hold down Shift and press Tab, this will move the focus back one link
3. Enter – when you have focus on a link, clicking the Enter (or Return) key is like left-clicking the mouse: it activates the link
4. Back space – back space is like clicking the back button of your browser
5. Space bar – you will need to use the space bar to select checkboxes in forms
6. Alt and D – to put the focus of the cursor into the address bar so you can type in a web address - or Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
7. Alt and Tab – hold down Alt and press Tab, this switches between your open applications or browser windows

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Originally posted on Monday 26th November 2007. Last updated on 27th March 2010.

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