Accessibility Support and Keyboard Shortcuts Documentation

CKEditor 4 is compliant with several accessibility standards, including WCAG, Section 508 and WAI-ARIA. It is easy to use in High Contrast Mode and with assistive technologies like screen readers.

CKEditor 4 also offers very good keyboard support which makes it accessible and usable at the same time. The entire user interface and all editor features are available through keyboard and most editor functions implement the key combinations that a user would naturally employ.

Accessibility Features

The Accessibility Support in CKEditor 4 article explains CKEditor 4 compliance with most important standards and supported platforms as well as gives an overview of some accessibility-related features that are implemented in CKEditor 4. You can test them in the editor instance below.

Additionally, check the new Accessibility Checker plugin introduced in CKEditor 4.6. It is an innovative tool that lets you inspect the content created in the editor and fix any accessibility issues that are found — often fully automatically.

Keyboard Support

A complete list of all supported keyboard shortcuts is available here. Meanwhile, you can try some of the following ideas to get a feel for using CKEditor with your keyboard:

Use Alt+0 to open the Accessibility Instructions dialog window.
Use Alt+F10 to enter the editor toolbar, then use Tab and Shift+Tab to move between toolbar groups and Arrow keys to move between buttons within a toolbar group.
Use Alt+F11 to enter the elements path, then use Tab and Shift+Tab to move between the elements path items and Space or Enter to select them.
Use Ctrl+L to open the Link dialog window.
Use Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U for bold, italic and underline formatting, respectively.

<h1><img alt="Saturn V carrying Apollo 11" class="right" src="assets/sample.jpg"/> Apollo 11</h1> <p><b>Apollo 11</b>
				was the spaceflight that landed the first humans, Americans <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong" title="Neil Armstrong">Neil Armstrong</a>
				and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin" title="Buzz Aldrin">Buzz Aldrin</a>, on the Moon on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC. Armstrong became
				the first to step onto the lunar surface 6 hours later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC.</p> <p>Armstrong spent about <s>three and a half</s> two and a half hours
				outside the spacecraft, Aldrin slightly less; and together they collected 47.5 pounds (21.5&nbsp;kg) of lunar material for return to Earth. A third member of the mission, <a
				href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(astronaut)" title="Michael Collins (astronaut)">Michael Collins</a>, piloted the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Command/Service_Module"
				title="Apollo Command/Service Module">command</a> spacecraft alone in lunar orbit until Armstrong and Aldrin returned to it for the trip back to Earth.</p>
				<h2>Broadcasting and <em>quotes</em> <a id="quotes" name="quotes"></a></h2> <p>Broadcast on live TV to a world-wide
				audience, Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and described the event as:</p> <blockquote><p>One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.</p></blockquote>
				<p>Apollo 11 effectively ended the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race" title="Space Race">Space Race</a> and fulfilled a national
				goal proposed in 1961 by the late U.S. President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy" title="John F. Kennedy">John F. Kennedy</a> in a
				speech before the United States Congress:</p> <blockquote><p>[...] before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.</p></blockquote>
				<h2>Technical details <a id="tech-details" name="tech-details"></a></h2> <table align="right" border="1" bordercolor="#ccc"
				cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;margin:10px 0 10px 15px;"> <caption><strong>Mission crew</strong></caption>
				<thead> <tr> <th scope="col">Position</th> <th scope="col">Astronaut</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr>
				<td>Commander</td> <td>Neil A. Armstrong</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Command Module Pilot</td> <td>Michael Collins</td> </tr>
				<tr> <td>Lunar Module Pilot</td> <td>Edwin &quot;Buzz&quot; E. Aldrin, Jr.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>Launched by a
				<strong>Saturn V</strong> rocket from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Space_Center" title="Kennedy Space Center">Kennedy Space
				Center</a> in Merritt Island, Florida on July 16, Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" title="NASA">NASA</a>&#39;s
				Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft had three parts:</p> <ol> <li><strong>Command Module</strong> with a cabin for the three astronauts which was the
				only part which landed back on Earth</li> <li><strong>Service Module</strong> which supported the Command Module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen and
				water</li> <li><strong>Lunar Module</strong> for landing on the Moon.</li> </ol> <p>After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V&#39;s
				upper stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and travelled for three days until they entered into lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the Lunar Module and
				landed in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_Tranquillitatis" title="Mare Tranquillitatis">Sea of Tranquility</a>. They stayed a total of
				about 21 and a half hours on the lunar surface. After lifting off in the upper part of the Lunar Module and rejoining Collins in the Command Module, they returned to Earth and landed
				in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" title="Pacific Ocean">Pacific Ocean</a> on July 24.</p> <hr/> <p style="text-align:
				right;"><small>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11">Wikipedia.org</a></small></p>

The Accessibility Support dialog window is provided through the Accessibility Help plugin which by default is available in the Standard and Full distributions.

Related Features

Get Sample Source Code

Accessibility support and keyboard shortcuts

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
  <title>Accessibility support and keyboard shortcuts</title>
  <script src="https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.25.0-lts/standard-all/ckeditor.js"></script>
</head>

<body>
  <textarea cols="80" id="editor1" name="editor1" rows="10">&lt;p&gt;This is some &lt;strong&gt;sample text&lt;/strong&gt;. You are using &lt;a href=&quot;https://ckeditor.com/&quot;&gt;CKEditor&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</textarea>
  <script>
    CKEDITOR.replace('editor1', {
      height: 500,
      removeButtons: 'PasteFromWord'
    });
  </script>
</body>

</html>