Millions of people navigate digital products exclusively using a keyboard—including users with motor disabilities, tremors, power users with wrist fatigue, and screen reader users.
The Primary Mechanics:
The Golden Law of Reading Order:
Keyboard tab order is determined strictly by DOM order in the HTML, NOT visual CSS layout. If you use CSS flex-direction: row-reverse or grid-template-areas to make a button appear first visually when it is last in the DOM, a keyboard user will experience jarring, disorienting jumps across the screen.
Level 1 · Accessible interaction basics