Module 5: Ensure Media Player is Keyboard Accessible keyboard

Before you address the actual audio or video content itself, you must first make sure that the media player is keyboard accessible, i.e. that a person does not need to rely on a mouse to use the player. Some people with mobility impairments may experience difficulty with manipulating a mouse. Screen-reader users also rely on a keyboard to navigate the player controls.

YouTube and the Canvas media players are both keyboard accessible. If you use a different type of media player, try operating the player using the keyboard. While the specific keys used for operation may vary from player to player, the following key commands are the most commonly used:

Play / Pause The Enter key or Spacebar
Volume control Up and down arrow keys
Forward and rewind Left and right arrow keys
Turn on/off captions Tab to the captions button, then up or down arrow to turn on and off.

Some media players have keyboard command cheatsheets that can be found using a simple Google search. Here are links for the cheatsheets for YouTube and the Arc Media Player which is used by Canvas.

 

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