Motor Disability

Some users find it difficult or impossible to use a mouse or a touchscreen.

That’s the case, for example, for people who have hand tremors or lack full control of their upper limbs. As a result, they prefer to use the keyboard, voice commands or browsing tools that are based on pointing or auto-select.

Other users — such as people with musculoskeletal disorders — choose to alternate between a mouse and a keyboard for browsing, because they develop severe pain in their hands after prolonged use of a mouse.

to stop the hand tremor.

We all encounter situations when it’s very helpful to use the keyboard to navigate a website. For example:

  • On many forms, it’s more efficient to tab from one field to the next using the keyboard than to click on the next field using the mouse.
  • If you’re holding your phone with one hand, you’ll want to use the other hand for both typing and navigating.