Menubar: link on the first level

[iamryanyu]

Hi there,

On this example,
https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/NOTE-wai-aria-practices-1.1-20171214/examples/menubar/menubar-1/menubar-1.html

The "Enter" and "Space" key is to open the submenu accordion to the keyboard support section for the Menubar. However, if the first menu itself has a link (such as About, Admissions, Academics), shouldn't the "Enter" key actually trigger the link?

If not, how can I trigger the link for the first level menu with the keyboard?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Warm regards,
Ryan

[mcking65]

@iamryanyu,

Yes, enter would open the link and down arrow would open the submenu. There is a note about that in the pattern in the keyboard section. While we know that it is common to overload parent menu items with link behavior, we don't recommend it. It is far better to put the link inside the submenu. This is particularly important for touch because there is no way to open the submenu if tapping the parent activates a link. It is also not very obvious to screen reader users that enter will activate a link. So, they may be very surprised when Enter does not move focus into the submenu.

Nevertheless, per issue #159, we plan to one day develop a version of the example that has this behavior.

Please feel free to re-open this issue if this does not sufficiently answer your question.