Tabindexing navigation menus

I wrote about accesskeys not to long ago, and here is another way you can add better keyboard accessibility to your site. By defining a tabindex order.

I guess you have all used sites with some kind of forms. Being it a registration form, online shopping or just a searchfield. And when you jump from one field to another, I guess you just hit tabulator on your keyboard, right?

Did you know that you can define the order? And use it to content outside forms too?

If you didn't know: the answer is yes. You could and you should.

By defining tabindex values you are defining in what order your readers Web browser should focus on elements on a Website. And you can add elements other than just forms and buttons too!

Try adding tabindex="numbers one to some three thousand" to your sites navigation as well!

My little recommendation here, based on the current layout of this site is that you add tabindex="1" to the searchfield in the top right corner. The adding 2 at the top title above the menu and thereby adding values to each menu element from left to right (default western reading direction).

Adding a good tabindex to your navigation menu would increase your sites accessibility, not only for disabled, but for readers using handheld units such as a mobile phone or PDA as well.

Tabindex is a W3C standard.