If I have a droplist in a form there are 3 methods I can use to select a record from it:-
Use a mouse to click on the down arrow to the right of the field display. This then shows the drop list which I can navigate using the keyboard or a mouse
I can use a mouse to click on the display field and once more the drop list appears and I can navigate using keyboard or mouse
However if I only want to use the keyboard and I tab onto the field and use the keyboard down arrow only the first record after the displayed record appears, thereafter the displayed record does not change.If I click on this record I can once more see the droplist and can navigate as before.
This is definitely a problem since my users, and myself, prefer to use the keyboard as much as possible since tabbing from field to field is much more efficient than swapping from hands on keyboard to mouse operation and then back to keyboard.
Another situation where this causes an issue is where I have a droplist which when a record is selected it populates other fields in the form depending on which record is selected. Because only the the next record is selected and you can go no further with a keyboard operation you then need to click on the downarrow and select the correct record.
When tabbing onto a droplist is there a method to display the available records below the droplist as if I had clicked on the down arrow to the right of the droplist?
Tested on Firefox Chrome Opera and Internet Explorer 11
Topic: Drop list behaviour in a form. (Read 3829 times)