select change event blocks keyboard navigation Accessibility Checkpoint

Description

select lists cannot be operated from the keyboard if they have a change handler that performs navigation, because the handler fires as the user moves the selection up and down using the keyboard.

Help

Moving through list items using the arrow keys will jump to another page unexpectedly.

Applicable standards

• WCAG 2.0 (Success Criteria: 3.2.2 level A)
• WCAG 2.1 (Success Criteria: 3.2.2 level A)
• WCAG 2.2 (Success Criteria: 3.2.2 level A)
• Section 508 (2017) (Success Criteria: 3.2.2 level A)

Note: Section 508 Refresh (2017) checkpoints are equivalent to WCAG 2.0 level A and level AA checkpoints.

Change history

• 6.47 Dec 2022 Improved event handler detection.
• 5.38 Jul 2020 Changed rule ID from AccWcag1-9.3.7 to AccHtmlSelectChangeEvent.
• 4.5 Nov 2011 Fix false positive: checks if ONCHANGE handler references code that triggers navigation.
• 4.1 Aug 2010 Don’t fire if ONCHANGE handler is present but blank.
• 3.5 Dec 2009 Corrected priority.
• 3.5 Dec 2009 Didn’t detect keyboard problems when SIZE=1 on SELECT elements.
• 3.0 Dec 2008 Now triggers WCAG2 issue.
• 1.0 Feb 2007 Added.

This page describes a web site issue detected in HTML documents by SortSite Desktop and OnDemand Suite.

Rule ID: AccHtmlSelectChangeEvent