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BindTuning themes navigation - Accessibility Features (Modern SharePoint)

BindTuning Team avatar
Written by BindTuning Team
Updated over 2 months ago

BindTuning themes are designed to enhance usability and accessibility, particularly for keyboard-only navigation. Recognizing the potential complexity of modern intranet navigation structures, BindTuning themes include specific keyboard shortcuts and controls to provide a more efficient user experience.

These features allow for streamlined interaction with your site's menus, especially complex ones like mega menus.

For these accessibility features to be active, ensure they are enabled within your theme's configuration. Find this option by navigating to your Theme Settings > Navigation, and toggling the "Enable Accessibility Features" option.

For more comprehensive details, please refer to our article: Configure BindTuning themes navigation (Modern SharePoint).

Key navigation accessibility features

Here's a breakdown of the keyboard shortcuts and functionalities available:

1. Focus on or Skip Navigation

  • Quickly Focus on the First Menu Item:

    • Shortcut: Ctrl + M

    • Purpose: Instantly moves keyboard focus to the first interactive element within the main navigation menu, allowing users to begin navigating immediately.

  • Bypass Navigation Entirely:

    • Shortcut: Ctrl + M (Double-tap M while holding Ctrl)

    • Purpose: Allows users to skip past the entire navigation menu and jump directly to the main content area of the page, which is useful when the user does not need to interact with the navigation.

2. Control Sub-Menus and Links

These shortcuts provide control over menu items that have dropdown sub-menus:

  • Open a Sub-Menu:

    • Shortcut: Enter (when the parent menu item is focused)

    • Purpose: Expands the sub-menu associated with the currently focused parent navigation item, revealing its contents.

  • Open Parent Item's URL Directly:

    • Shortcut: Enter (hold slightly longer than a tap, when the parent menu item is focused)

    • Purpose: Instead of expanding the sub-menu, this action directly navigates to the URL linked to the parent menu item itself.

  • Open Link in a New Tab:

    • Shortcut: Ctrl + Enter (press or hold, when any menu item with a link is focused)

    • Purpose: Opens the associated link in a new browser tab or window.

  • Close a Sub-Menu:

    • Shortcut: Enter (when the parent menu item is focused, and its sub-menu is open)

    • Purpose: Collapses an expanded sub-menu, returning focus to the parent item.

    • Note: While Enter typically opens sub-menus, pressing Enter again on the parent item (or the Escape key, a common accessibility convention) will usually collapse it.

3. Navigate with Arrow Keys (Optimized for Mega Menus)

  • Navigation: Left Arrow, Right Arrow, Up Arrow, Down Arrow keys

  • Purpose: The entire navigation structure is optimized for efficient arrow key navigation. This feature is particularly beneficial within complex mega menus, allowing users to seamlessly move between items, columns, and rows without having to tab through every single link.

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