Keyboard shortcuts - Overview
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- 1 Overview
- 2 Keyboard reference
- 3 Keyboard shortcuts in the rich text editor
- 4 Keyboard navigation in Plans
Introduction
You can navigate and interact with itslearning using the keyboard only. All tools and components behave as expected in a standard web application. What is expected may not always be common knowledge.
1 Overview
When you navigate with the keyboard, there is always a visible focus on the current element. This helps sighted users see where they are. If you use a screen reader, you hear the label or text read aloud.
Note: Different UI controls may require different keys, depending on your browser and operating system. itslearning follows the native keyboard conventions of your browser and does not define custom ones. The exact keys can therefore differ between, for example, Windows, macOS and iPadOS, even where controls share many of the same key patterns.
Note: itslearning has no specialised keyboard functionality or shortcuts beyond standard web conventions. The exception is the rich text editor (CKEditor), which supports common text-editing shortcuts and accessibility shortcuts.
2 Keyboard reference
The table below summarises what to expect when you use keyboard navigation. These behaviours are not specific to itslearning. They follow standard web interaction patterns.
| Key | Actions | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Tab | Navigate down the page, moving between interactive elements such as links, buttons and form fields. | Skips blocks of plain text. |
| Shift + Tab | Navigate up the page. This is the same as Tab, but in reverse. | |
| Enter | Activate a link, activate a button or select an option. | Spacebar is more common for activating buttons. |
| Spacebar | Activate a button. Check or uncheck a checkbox. Select a radio button. Expand a drop-down list. Scroll the page if no interactive element is in focus. Activate drag and drop of items in a list without using a mouse. | Arrow keys are more common for selecting radio buttons in a group. |
| ↑ ↓ ← → | Navigate radio button options, drop-down list options, menus, tab panels and tree menus. Increase or decrease the value of a slider. Scroll the page if no interactive element is in focus. | Arrow keys also select the option when you navigate radio buttons, where only one option can be selected. Some menus that look like tab panels are actually groups of links. In that case, use Tab and Enter instead. |
| Escape | Close a dialogue. | |
| Letter keys | Filter drop-down list options by typing letters. | This behaviour depends on the browser. |
| Home / End | Go to the beginning or end of a slider or table. | |
| Page Up / Page Down | In some sliders, moves the slider by a larger increment than the arrow keys. |
3 Keyboard shortcuts in the rich text editor
The itslearning rich text editor (CKEditor) supports common keyboard shortcuts for working with text, and specific shortcuts related to accessibility. For the full list of available shortcuts, see the CKEditor documentation:
4 Keyboard navigation in Plans
Plans has some navigation patterns that are not obvious from standard Tab and arrow key use. This section covers the keyboard behaviour that is specific to Plans.
4.1 Switching between tabs (Past and Without a date)
You can reach the Past and Without a date tabs in Plans with the keyboard. Use Ctrl + arrow keys to move between these tabs.
4.2 Switching between deadline view and self-paced view
You can switch between the deadline view and the self-paced view in Plans with the keyboard. Use Ctrl + arrow keys to switch between the two views.
4.3 Tab order
In Plans, the tab order on cards may place the three-dot menu before other interactive elements.
Note: This is known behaviour. No change to the tab order is currently planned.
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Have more questions? Please start with asking your school administrator.
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