Technique H4:Creating a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects

Example 1

A genealogical search form searches for marriage records. The search form includes several input fields for the bride and the groom. The form is marked up using a data table that includes the fields of the groom in the first column and the fields of the bride in the second column. The order in the content is row by row but the author feels it is more logical to navigate the form column by column. This way, all the groom's criteria can be filled in before moving on to the bride's criteria. The tabindex attributes of the input fields are used to specify a tab order that navigates column by column.

<form action="#" method="post">
 <table summary="the first column contains the search criteria 
  of the groom, the second column the search criteria of 
  of the bride">
 <caption>Search for marriage records</caption>
 <tr>
   <th>Search criteria</th>
   <th>Groom</th>
   <th>Bride</th>
 </tr>
 <tr>
  <th>First name</th>
  <td><input type="text" size="30" value="" name="groomfirst" 
      title="First name of the groom" tabindex="1"></td>
  <td><input type="text" size="30" value="" name="bridefirst" 
       title="First name of the bride" tabindex="4"></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
  <th>Last name</th>
  <td><input type="text" size="30" value="" name="groomlast" 
      title="Last name of the groom" tabindex="2"></td>
  <td><input type="text" size="30" value="" name="bridelast" 
      title="Last name of the bride" tabindex="5"></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
  <th>Place of birth</th>
  <td><input type="text" size="30" value="" name="groombirth" 
      title="Place of birth of the groom" tabindex="3"></td>
  <td><input type="text" size="30" value="" name="bridebirth" 
      title="Place of birth of the bride" tabindex="6"></td>
 </tr>
</table>
</form>      

Example 2

A Web page contains a search field in the upper right corner. The field is given tabindex="1" so that it will occur first in the tab order, even though it is not first in the content order.

Example 3

Tabindex values need not be sequential nor must they begin with any particular value. The values do not have to be unique. Elements that have identical tabindex values are navigated in the order they appear in the character stream.

In sections of the content where the tab order follows the content order, it can be less error prone to give all elements the same tabindex value rather than specifying a different number for each element. Then it is easy to rearrange those elements or add new elements and maintain a logical tab order.

 <a href="xxx" tabindex = "1">First link in list</a>
<a href="xxx" tabindex = "1">Second link in list</a>
<a href="xxx" tabindex = "1">Link that was added long 
  after the original list was created</a>
<a href="xxx" tabindex = "1">Third link in list</a>
  ...
<a href="xxx" tabindex = "1">Twentieth link in list</a>