Text input
No accessibility annotations are needed for text inputs, but keep these considerations in mind if you are modifying Carbon or creating a custom component.
What Carbon provides
Carbon bakes keyboard operation into its components, improving the experience of blind users and others who operate via the keyboard. Carbon incorporates many other accessibility considerations, some of which are described below.
Keyboard navigation
Carbon’s text inputs and text areas replicate the default HTML component
operation. Each input field is a tab stop, as are any preceding information
icons (which open with Enter/Space and close with Esc). For password
inputs, Carbon provides a keyboard-operable ability to toggle the password
value’s visibility using Enter or Space.
Each input is a tab stop, as are any information icons.
Keyboard interaction
On focus, users can type directly into the input field. Any existing text in the
input is highlighted on focus and will be replaced when the user begins typing.
(Existing text in a text area is not highlighted on focus; instead the cursor is
placed at the start or the user’s prior point of interaction.) Users can
interact inside text inputs and text areas using standard arrow keys and
modifiers (Ctrl for Windows, Option for Mac).
Users can move around in text inputs and text areas using arrows keys and modifiers.
Labeling and helper text
Carbon programmatically surfaces both the input’s label and any helper text to assistive technologies such as screen readers. Any error messages for text inputs are also accessibly revealed.
Labels and helper text are accessibly provided.
Development considerations
Keep these considerations in mind if you are modifying Carbon or creating a custom component.
- Labels are properly associated with inputs using the
forattribute. - Helper text is surfaced to assistive technology through
aria-describedby.