computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

, spatial navigation is the ability to navigate between focusable elements, such as

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...

s and form controls, within a structured document or

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fro ...

according to the spatial location. This method is widely used in

application software Application software is any computer program that is intended for end-user use not operating, administering or programming the computer. An application (app, application program, software application) is any program that can be categorized as ...

like computer games. In the past Web browsers have used

tabbing navigation The tab key (abbreviation of tabulator key or tabular key) on a alphanumeric keyboard, keyboard is used to advance the cursor to the next tab stop. History The word ''tab'' derives from the word ''tabulate'', which means "to arrange data in ...

to change the focus within an interface, by pressing the tab key of a

computer keyboard A computer keyboard is a built-in or peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or Push-button, keys to act as Mechanical keyboard, mechanical levers or Electronic switching system, electro ...

to focus on the next element (or to focus on the previous one). The order is based on that in the source document. For HTML without any style, this method usually works as the spatial location of the element is in the same order of the source document. However, with the introduction of style via presentational attributes or style sheets such as CSS, this type of navigation is being used less often. Spatial navigation uses the

arrow keys Arrow keys or cursor movement keys are keys on a computer keyboard that are either programmed or designated to move the cursor (computers), cursor in a specified direction. The term "cursor movement key" is distinct from "arrow key" in that th ...

(with one or more modifier key held) to navigate on the "2D plane" of the interface. For example, pressing the "up" arrow key will focus on the closest focusable element on the top (relative to the current element). In many cases, this could save many key presses. This accessibility feature is available in a number of applications, e.g. Vivaldi web browser. For Vivaldi users, this allows a faster way to "jump" to different areas in long web pages or articles without manually scrolling and scanning with their eyes. Some examples, as noted above, include the key to jump to the next input field, but also the key with arrow keys (, , , ) to jump to various links and text headers. Doug Turner (Mozilla), the Minimo lead developer, has created a couple of special Mozilla Firefox builds with this feature. Eventually, this may build as a default part of Firefox. Nightly builds of WebKit (the layout engine used by

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

and

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...

, among others) nowWebKit changeset 55543 http://trac.webkit.org/changeset/55543 have support for spatial navigation. In games such navigation is represented by (for example) camera-relative movement.

References

External links

Use Opera without a MouseSpatial Navigation in Mozillaand for Google Chrome
{{web browsers User interface techniques

See also

References

External links