Sorry Mark but I'm going to have to counter that argument because I believe it *is* in part an accessibility issue, particularly relating to screen readers which as we know linearly parse a page ... so unless there is instructional text or help before the text field advising them of how to activate or submit that form field or if the behaviour is inconsistent with both web and on-site conventions then the possible data loss, accidental data submission or lack of any response on pressing Enter because that user isn't aware of what is going to happen or not happen (until deciding after a delay that the Enter key did nothing) until they try it.
The standard browser convention is that in an input field (not textarea), pressing Enter will activate the action of the containing form element (if it has one, or unless it's an ASP.NET app in which case the form element envelops the entire page). Speaking of which, does ASP.NET 3.5 handle that differently? Nathanael Boehm http://www.purecaffeine.com/about/ Canberra, Australia 0409 288 464 On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 6:26 PM, Mark Stickley < markstick...@theyakshack.co.uk> wrote: > I don't think that pressing enter to submit is an accessibility issue at > all, it's simply expected behaviour. If people are used to being able to do > that in their browser then it should not be forced or suppressed in any way. > > Keyboard only users is an interesting one... so if the person is a keyboard > user out of choice (as in they prefer to use the keyboard for ease of use) > they might well be using a setup where it's not possible to highlight the > submit button to submit it. Someone who is using the keyboard only because > they have difficulty with a mouse is unlikely to have that problem as they'd > choose a setup which allows them to do that. > > As for putting line breaks in the field, as far as I know no browsers will > submit a form when you press enter on a textarea, and as <input type="field" > />'s are only one line, they surely wouldn't expect to be able to put a line > break there anyway. > > I actually publish a blog post on a very similar topic (although not so > focussed on the accessibility side of things) yesterday: > > > http://www.norestfortheweekend.com/2009/10/20/on-forms-submit-buttons-and-browsers/ > > I hope you find it interesting! > > Mark > > > On 21 Oct 2009, at 04:39, Chris Vickery wrote: > > Thanks Jason, > In this case it’s for an input field, not a textarea, and enter will still > not submit (unless you tab out) so in this case makes it contrary to ‘native > browser behaviour’. > Essentially our input fields would, (although they identify themselves as > input fields) would behave like textareas, without line breaks. > > I’m not really familiar with using a text to speech reader, but that sounds > messy to me. Interestingly the source itself looks pretty straight forward: > > <div id="abc-form" class="form"> > <form name="abcform" id="abcform" method="post" action="" > > <input type="text" name="abcform[email1]" value="" id="email1" class="text" > /><input type="submit" name="form[subscribebutton1]" value="Subscribe" > id="subscribebutton1" /> > </form> > </div> > > There must be something buried in the styling causing this behaviour. > Chris > > *From:* li...@webstandardsgroup.org > [mailto:li...@webstandardsgroup.org<li...@webstandardsgroup.org> > ] *On Behalf Of *ja...@flexewebs.com > *Sent:* Wednesday, 21 October 2009 11:03 AM > *To:* wsg@webstandardsgroup.org > *Subject:* Re: [WSG] Is pressing Enter to submit (or not) on forms an > accessability issue? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] > > Hi Chris, > > The submission by pressing enter is a native browser behaviour, hence is > not an accessibility issue. > > You will only be able to submit via enter from an input field and not from > a textarea, which you have to tab out of and then hit enter. > > So I doubt you will find any references to back-up your claim. If you do, > send it through so we can debunk it. :-D > > Best, > > Jason > > Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device > ------------------------------ > *From: *"Chris Vickery" <chris.vick...@privacy.gov.au> > *Date: *Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:20:51 +1100 > *To: *...@webstandardsgroup.org<wsg@webstandardsgroup.org> > *Subject: *[WSG] Is pressing Enter to submit (or not) on forms an > accessability issue? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED] > > We’re accessibility testing at the moment. We’ve got some email forms (ie. > Put in your email address to subscribe -> submit) that do not currently > submit if you press enter. > Personally I feel this should be an accessibility issue, but I am finding > it difficult to locate any solid documentation to back up my claim. I’ve had > the argument put to me that a keyboard only user could still tab to the > submit button, then press enter, but this seems very unintuitive to me to > force users to do this. > > I’ve also had put to me that some users get confused if they want to put > line breaks in a field and submit by accident... and so to be consistent > pressing enter should never submit a form. (data entry people would love > that one :P) > > Is submitting by pressing enter from a form best practice, or just common > practice? Is it an accessibility problem? ... and to what degree? > > > *********************************************************************** > WARNING: The information contained in this email may be confidential. > If you are not the intended recipient, any use or copying of any part > of this information is unauthorised. 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