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Overview of OpenKeyNav™

Developers integrate OpenKeyNav into websites and web apps to improve keyboard accessibility. Click Mode gives keyboard users direct routes to detected targets. Navigation commands create faster routes through tabbable targets in heading contexts, scrollable regions, and page structure. Move Mode gives applications a consistent way to map keyboard movement between valid sources and destinations.

Developers initialize one OpenKeyNav instance at the persistent root of a site or app. Keyboard users turn the interaction layer on when they want it and request a mode for the task at hand.

OpenKeyNav
Provides target discovery, direct-selection labels, navigation commands, configured movement, mode exits, and focused diagnostics.
You
Connect those mechanisms to your actions, semantics, application state, focus behavior, and feedback, then verify every required workflow.

ResultKeyboard users gain direct, reusable routes through the organization's websites and web-app workflows.

How OpenKeyNav works​

  • Detected actions: Click Mode scans the visible page each time it opens, assigns short labels to the targets it detects, and lets a user select one directly.
  • Configured workflows: Move Mode uses application-defined sources, destinations, and callbacks to reproduce endpoint-based movement with a keyboard.
  • Direct navigation: Heading, scroll-region, and Structural Navigation commands move real focus among existing targets in the live page.
  • Managed commands: A shared configuration controls activation, mode, movement, and exit keys across the integration.
  • Focused diagnostics: Development checks identify actions for manual review of semantics, focus, activation, and task completion.

Keyboard accessibility​

WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 2.1.1: Keyboard requires all functionality to be operable through a keyboard interface. OpenKeyNav provides reusable keyboard paths for the targets it detects and the workflows an application configures. The host page supplies semantic HTML, accessible names, roles, values, focus behavior, and programmatic feedback. Teams verify the combined experience across every required action, state change, and outcome in each complete task.

State and local government teams can use the ADA Title II keyboard accessibility guide to connect OpenKeyNav implementation work with the federal WCAG 2.1 Level AA timeline.

Start implementing​

  1. Install OpenKeyNav at the persistent site or application root.
  2. Use the Quick Start Guide to exercise Click Mode and the navigation commands.
  3. Inventory every action and outcome in the workflows being delivered.
  4. Configure Move Mode and other application-specific routes.
  5. Follow Accessibility and WCAG Support to verify coverage, focus, semantics, feedback, and assistive-technology behavior.