Why does a `click` event get triggered on my when I press Enter on it?

I'm only adding a click event handler on my <button>.

document.getElementsByTagName("button")[0].addEventListener("click", event => {

  event.preventDefault();



  console.log("Click:", event);

});

<button>Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> on me</button>

(Demo link)

Nevertheless, when I tab to the button in Firefox, then press Enter, I see the click event being fired. However, I cannot see this behaviour documented anywhere. Is this standard behaviour, and can I count on it working in all browsers?

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

6

Try pressing the space bar when the button is in focus...another surprise..you clicked the button :-)

– Thangadurai
Jan 7 at 11:09

Hehe yeah I got that, left it out for brevity :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

keyboard geeks don't often use the mouse. Many even use vi-like addons to their browsers so that they can surf the web without ever touching their mouse. It's very frustrated when an app don't respond to keyboard events

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 15:01

@phuclv Blind users do everything using the keyboard. Some types of motor impairments also require keyboard access.

– Christophe Strobbe
Jan 7 at 16:19

@ChristopheStrobbe blind doesn't only mean a complete vision lost. Many people with low eyesight do use a mouse with magnifier. And not only those, keyboard inputs are used a lot by other users. For example tab to move between form fields, and after filling them people will just press enter to submit instead of pressing the submit button with the mouse

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 16:29

|
show 3 more comments

I'm only adding a click event handler on my <button>.

document.getElementsByTagName("button")[0].addEventListener("click", event => {

  event.preventDefault();



  console.log("Click:", event);

});

<button>Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> on me</button>

(Demo link)

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

6

Try pressing the space bar when the button is in focus...another surprise..you clicked the button :-)

– Thangadurai
Jan 7 at 11:09

Hehe yeah I got that, left it out for brevity :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

keyboard geeks don't often use the mouse. Many even use vi-like addons to their browsers so that they can surf the web without ever touching their mouse. It's very frustrated when an app don't respond to keyboard events

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 15:01

@phuclv Blind users do everything using the keyboard. Some types of motor impairments also require keyboard access.

– Christophe Strobbe
Jan 7 at 16:19

@ChristopheStrobbe blind doesn't only mean a complete vision lost. Many people with low eyesight do use a mouse with magnifier. And not only those, keyboard inputs are used a lot by other users. For example tab to move between form fields, and after filling them people will just press enter to submit instead of pressing the submit button with the mouse

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 16:29

|
show 3 more comments

I'm only adding a click event handler on my <button>.

document.getElementsByTagName("button")[0].addEventListener("click", event => {

  event.preventDefault();



  console.log("Click:", event);

});

<button>Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> on me</button>

(Demo link)

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

I'm only adding a click event handler on my <button>.

document.getElementsByTagName("button")[0].addEventListener("click", event => {

  event.preventDefault();



  console.log("Click:", event);

});

<button>Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> on me</button>

(Demo link)

document.getElementsByTagName("button")[0].addEventListener("click", event => {

  event.preventDefault();



  console.log("Click:", event);

});

<button>Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> on me</button>

document.getElementsByTagName("button")[0].addEventListener("click", event => {

  event.preventDefault();



  console.log("Click:", event);

});

<button>Press <kbd>Enter</kbd> on me</button>

javascript html dom accessibility dom-events

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

edited Jan 8 at 5:26

Nisarg Shah

10.7k52040

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

asked Jan 7 at 11:03

Vincent

1,31211630

6

Try pressing the space bar when the button is in focus...another surprise..you clicked the button :-)

– Thangadurai
Jan 7 at 11:09

Hehe yeah I got that, left it out for brevity :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

keyboard geeks don't often use the mouse. Many even use vi-like addons to their browsers so that they can surf the web without ever touching their mouse. It's very frustrated when an app don't respond to keyboard events

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 15:01

@phuclv Blind users do everything using the keyboard. Some types of motor impairments also require keyboard access.

– Christophe Strobbe
Jan 7 at 16:19

@ChristopheStrobbe blind doesn't only mean a complete vision lost. Many people with low eyesight do use a mouse with magnifier. And not only those, keyboard inputs are used a lot by other users. For example tab to move between form fields, and after filling them people will just press enter to submit instead of pressing the submit button with the mouse

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 16:29

|
show 3 more comments

6

Try pressing the space bar when the button is in focus...another surprise..you clicked the button :-)

– Thangadurai
Jan 7 at 11:09

Hehe yeah I got that, left it out for brevity :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

keyboard geeks don't often use the mouse. Many even use vi-like addons to their browsers so that they can surf the web without ever touching their mouse. It's very frustrated when an app don't respond to keyboard events

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 15:01

@phuclv Blind users do everything using the keyboard. Some types of motor impairments also require keyboard access.

– Christophe Strobbe
Jan 7 at 16:19

@ChristopheStrobbe blind doesn't only mean a complete vision lost. Many people with low eyesight do use a mouse with magnifier. And not only those, keyboard inputs are used a lot by other users. For example tab to move between form fields, and after filling them people will just press enter to submit instead of pressing the submit button with the mouse

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 16:29

Try pressing the space bar when the button is in focus...another surprise..you clicked the button :-)

– Thangadurai
Jan 7 at 11:09

Hehe yeah I got that, left it out for brevity :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

keyboard geeks don't often use the mouse. Many even use vi-like addons to their browsers so that they can surf the web without ever touching their mouse. It's very frustrated when an app don't respond to keyboard events

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 15:01

@phuclv Blind users do everything using the keyboard. Some types of motor impairments also require keyboard access.

– Christophe Strobbe
Jan 7 at 16:19

@ChristopheStrobbe blind doesn't only mean a complete vision lost. Many people with low eyesight do use a mouse with magnifier. And not only those, keyboard inputs are used a lot by other users. For example tab to move between form fields, and after filling them people will just press enter to submit instead of pressing the submit button with the mouse

– phuclv
Jan 7 at 16:29

|
show 3 more comments

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click (whether because they prefer to use a keyboard to navigate, have a disability which makes it hard to use a pointing device, or whatever other reason).

The behaviour is documented in the HTML specification:

Certain elements in HTML have an activation behavior, which means that the user can activate them. This triggers a sequence of events dependent on the activation mechanism, and normally culminating in a click event, as described below.

…

For accessibility, the keyboard’s Enter and Space keys are often used to trigger an element’s activation behavior.

It then goes on to explain the steps in detail.

edited Jan 7 at 11:11

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

That's great, thanks for the reference - I will be relying on that for accessibility then!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

It's a very useful mechanism. If you plan to rely on it for accessibility, the caveat is that most elements do not have this default behaviour, so if you're using (say) a div or a span as a control, you'll have to add the key event handling yourself. (Be sure to add a role attribute too!)

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:47

2

@brennanyoung — And make them keyboard accessible with tabindex … best to use elements designed to be interacted with in the first place!

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:51

2

Quite right. You get a lot of accessibility 'for free' with <a>, <input> and <button>, but otherwise tabindex is just as important. Unfortunately, a11y implementation is far too rarely considered 'in the first place'.

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:55

1

"This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click" No it isn't, it was always like that from the very beginning of Javascript.

– Ben
Jan 7 at 17:13

|
show 1 more comment

Because for keyboard users (where a mouse is not available), when a button is in focus and you press Enter (possibly Space as well) it simulates a click event.

This is the browser's accessibility support which most, if not all, browsers provide.

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

1

"It's part of the ISO" — It isn't … and nobody uses ISO HTML anyway.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:06

@Quentin Removed. You're right, our workplace puts a big importance on the ISO hence the reference.

– Adriani6
Jan 7 at 11:07

Ah sorry, I did not mean "why did they make it this way", but "why did browsers implement this - was it because it was standardised, or because they thought it was a good idea themselves". Apparently the former!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

@Vincent – The standard was defined after most browsers had already implemented it.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:12

I see. Well, that's great for me - saves me implementing keypress handlers myself :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:13

add a comment |

This is documented in WCAG: SCR35: Making actions keyboard accessible by using the onclick event of anchors and buttons:

While onclick sounds like it is tied to the mouse, the onclick event is actually mapped to the default action of a link or button. The default action occurs when the user clicks the element with a mouse, but it also occurs when the user focuses the element and hits enter or space, and when the element is triggered via the accessibility API.

This is also stated in UIEVents /click section:

In addition to being associated with pointer devices, the click event type MUST be dispatched as part of an element activation, as described in §3.5 Activation triggers and behavior.

The Activation trigggers paragraph states that:

User-initiated activation triggers include clicking a mouse button on an activatable element, pressing the Enter key when an activatable element has focus, or pressing a key that is somehow linked to an activatable element (a hotkey or access key) even when that element does not have focus.

Which means that any of those triggers will dispatch the click event.

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

Huh, that first excerpt is interesting - in an earlier test, the click event did not get triggered when I bound the listener to an anchor on which I pressed <kbd>Enter</kbd>. See e.g. here: codesandbox.io/s/4r3rl2nrz7?expanddevtools=1

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 13:38

@Vincent In your example, your a anchor lacks an href attribute to make it a link. So the a tag will have no default action.

– Adam
Jan 8 at 14:28

Ah, right. But then that first excerpt is, I think, about something else: clicking a button (or anchor) activates its default behaviour. Whereas the question was not about what happens when you click the button, but about why the click event is triggered when you don't click the button. (Which I think the other two excerpts show.) Anyway, thanks :)

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 14:39

add a comment |

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3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

The behaviour is documented in the HTML specification:

Certain elements in HTML have an activation behavior, which means that the user can activate them. This triggers a sequence of events dependent on the activation mechanism, and normally culminating in a click event, as described below.

…

For accessibility, the keyboard’s Enter and Space keys are often used to trigger an element’s activation behavior.

It then goes on to explain the steps in detail.

edited Jan 7 at 11:11

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

That's great, thanks for the reference - I will be relying on that for accessibility then!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

It's a very useful mechanism. If you plan to rely on it for accessibility, the caveat is that most elements do not have this default behaviour, so if you're using (say) a div or a span as a control, you'll have to add the key event handling yourself. (Be sure to add a role attribute too!)

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:47

2

@brennanyoung — And make them keyboard accessible with tabindex … best to use elements designed to be interacted with in the first place!

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:51

2

Quite right. You get a lot of accessibility 'for free' with <a>, <input> and <button>, but otherwise tabindex is just as important. Unfortunately, a11y implementation is far too rarely considered 'in the first place'.

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:55

1

"This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click" No it isn't, it was always like that from the very beginning of Javascript.

– Ben
Jan 7 at 17:13

|
show 1 more comment

The behaviour is documented in the HTML specification:

Certain elements in HTML have an activation behavior, which means that the user can activate them. This triggers a sequence of events dependent on the activation mechanism, and normally culminating in a click event, as described below.

…

For accessibility, the keyboard’s Enter and Space keys are often used to trigger an element’s activation behavior.

It then goes on to explain the steps in detail.

edited Jan 7 at 11:11

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

That's great, thanks for the reference - I will be relying on that for accessibility then!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

It's a very useful mechanism. If you plan to rely on it for accessibility, the caveat is that most elements do not have this default behaviour, so if you're using (say) a div or a span as a control, you'll have to add the key event handling yourself. (Be sure to add a role attribute too!)

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:47

2

@brennanyoung — And make them keyboard accessible with tabindex … best to use elements designed to be interacted with in the first place!

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:51

2

Quite right. You get a lot of accessibility 'for free' with <a>, <input> and <button>, but otherwise tabindex is just as important. Unfortunately, a11y implementation is far too rarely considered 'in the first place'.

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:55

1

"This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click" No it isn't, it was always like that from the very beginning of Javascript.

– Ben
Jan 7 at 17:13

|
show 1 more comment

The behaviour is documented in the HTML specification:

Certain elements in HTML have an activation behavior, which means that the user can activate them. This triggers a sequence of events dependent on the activation mechanism, and normally culminating in a click event, as described below.

…

For accessibility, the keyboard’s Enter and Space keys are often used to trigger an element’s activation behavior.

It then goes on to explain the steps in detail.

edited Jan 7 at 11:11

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

The behaviour is documented in the HTML specification:

Certain elements in HTML have an activation behavior, which means that the user can activate them. This triggers a sequence of events dependent on the activation mechanism, and normally culminating in a click event, as described below.

…

For accessibility, the keyboard’s Enter and Space keys are often used to trigger an element’s activation behavior.

It then goes on to explain the steps in detail.

edited Jan 7 at 11:11

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

edited Jan 7 at 11:11

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

answered Jan 7 at 11:09

Quentin

643k718671037

That's great, thanks for the reference - I will be relying on that for accessibility then!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

It's a very useful mechanism. If you plan to rely on it for accessibility, the caveat is that most elements do not have this default behaviour, so if you're using (say) a div or a span as a control, you'll have to add the key event handling yourself. (Be sure to add a role attribute too!)

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:47

2

@brennanyoung — And make them keyboard accessible with tabindex … best to use elements designed to be interacted with in the first place!

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:51

2

Quite right. You get a lot of accessibility 'for free' with <a>, <input> and <button>, but otherwise tabindex is just as important. Unfortunately, a11y implementation is far too rarely considered 'in the first place'.

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:55

1

"This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click" No it isn't, it was always like that from the very beginning of Javascript.

– Ben
Jan 7 at 17:13

|
show 1 more comment

That's great, thanks for the reference - I will be relying on that for accessibility then!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

It's a very useful mechanism. If you plan to rely on it for accessibility, the caveat is that most elements do not have this default behaviour, so if you're using (say) a div or a span as a control, you'll have to add the key event handling yourself. (Be sure to add a role attribute too!)

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:47

2

@brennanyoung — And make them keyboard accessible with tabindex … best to use elements designed to be interacted with in the first place!

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:51

2

Quite right. You get a lot of accessibility 'for free' with <a>, <input> and <button>, but otherwise tabindex is just as important. Unfortunately, a11y implementation is far too rarely considered 'in the first place'.

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:55

1

"This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click" No it isn't, it was always like that from the very beginning of Javascript.

– Ben
Jan 7 at 17:13

That's great, thanks for the reference - I will be relying on that for accessibility then!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

It's a very useful mechanism. If you plan to rely on it for accessibility, the caveat is that most elements do not have this default behaviour, so if you're using (say) a div or a span as a control, you'll have to add the key event handling yourself. (Be sure to add a role attribute too!)

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:47

@brennanyoung — And make them keyboard accessible with tabindex … best to use elements designed to be interacted with in the first place!

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:51

Quite right. You get a lot of accessibility 'for free' with <a>, <input> and <button>, but otherwise tabindex is just as important. Unfortunately, a11y implementation is far too rarely considered 'in the first place'.

– brennanyoung
Jan 7 at 11:55

"This is largely because lots of authors have historically written code using click events while forgetting to account for users who don't click" No it isn't, it was always like that from the very beginning of Javascript.

– Ben
Jan 7 at 17:13

|
show 1 more comment

Because for keyboard users (where a mouse is not available), when a button is in focus and you press Enter (possibly Space as well) it simulates a click event.

This is the browser's accessibility support which most, if not all, browsers provide.

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

1

"It's part of the ISO" — It isn't … and nobody uses ISO HTML anyway.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:06

@Quentin Removed. You're right, our workplace puts a big importance on the ISO hence the reference.

– Adriani6
Jan 7 at 11:07

Ah sorry, I did not mean "why did they make it this way", but "why did browsers implement this - was it because it was standardised, or because they thought it was a good idea themselves". Apparently the former!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

@Vincent – The standard was defined after most browsers had already implemented it.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:12

I see. Well, that's great for me - saves me implementing keypress handlers myself :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:13

add a comment |

Because for keyboard users (where a mouse is not available), when a button is in focus and you press Enter (possibly Space as well) it simulates a click event.

This is the browser's accessibility support which most, if not all, browsers provide.

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

1

"It's part of the ISO" — It isn't … and nobody uses ISO HTML anyway.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:06

@Quentin Removed. You're right, our workplace puts a big importance on the ISO hence the reference.

– Adriani6
Jan 7 at 11:07

Ah sorry, I did not mean "why did they make it this way", but "why did browsers implement this - was it because it was standardised, or because they thought it was a good idea themselves". Apparently the former!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

@Vincent – The standard was defined after most browsers had already implemented it.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:12

I see. Well, that's great for me - saves me implementing keypress handlers myself :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:13

add a comment |

Because for keyboard users (where a mouse is not available), when a button is in focus and you press Enter (possibly Space as well) it simulates a click event.

This is the browser's accessibility support which most, if not all, browsers provide.

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

Because for keyboard users (where a mouse is not available), when a button is in focus and you press Enter (possibly Space as well) it simulates a click event.

This is the browser's accessibility support which most, if not all, browsers provide.

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

edited Jan 7 at 17:34

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

answered Jan 7 at 11:06

Adriani6

4,49721527

1

"It's part of the ISO" — It isn't … and nobody uses ISO HTML anyway.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:06

@Quentin Removed. You're right, our workplace puts a big importance on the ISO hence the reference.

– Adriani6
Jan 7 at 11:07

Ah sorry, I did not mean "why did they make it this way", but "why did browsers implement this - was it because it was standardised, or because they thought it was a good idea themselves". Apparently the former!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

@Vincent – The standard was defined after most browsers had already implemented it.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:12

I see. Well, that's great for me - saves me implementing keypress handlers myself :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:13

add a comment |

1

"It's part of the ISO" — It isn't … and nobody uses ISO HTML anyway.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:06

@Quentin Removed. You're right, our workplace puts a big importance on the ISO hence the reference.

– Adriani6
Jan 7 at 11:07

Ah sorry, I did not mean "why did they make it this way", but "why did browsers implement this - was it because it was standardised, or because they thought it was a good idea themselves". Apparently the former!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

@Vincent – The standard was defined after most browsers had already implemented it.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:12

I see. Well, that's great for me - saves me implementing keypress handlers myself :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:13

"It's part of the ISO" — It isn't … and nobody uses ISO HTML anyway.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:06

@Quentin Removed. You're right, our workplace puts a big importance on the ISO hence the reference.

– Adriani6
Jan 7 at 11:07

Ah sorry, I did not mean "why did they make it this way", but "why did browsers implement this - was it because it was standardised, or because they thought it was a good idea themselves". Apparently the former!

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:11

@Vincent – The standard was defined after most browsers had already implemented it.

– Quentin
Jan 7 at 11:12

I see. Well, that's great for me - saves me implementing keypress handlers myself :)

– Vincent
Jan 7 at 11:13

add a comment |

This is documented in WCAG: SCR35: Making actions keyboard accessible by using the onclick event of anchors and buttons:

While onclick sounds like it is tied to the mouse, the onclick event is actually mapped to the default action of a link or button. The default action occurs when the user clicks the element with a mouse, but it also occurs when the user focuses the element and hits enter or space, and when the element is triggered via the accessibility API.

This is also stated in UIEVents /click section:

In addition to being associated with pointer devices, the click event type MUST be dispatched as part of an element activation, as described in §3.5 Activation triggers and behavior.

The Activation trigggers paragraph states that:

User-initiated activation triggers include clicking a mouse button on an activatable element, pressing the Enter key when an activatable element has focus, or pressing a key that is somehow linked to an activatable element (a hotkey or access key) even when that element does not have focus.

Which means that any of those triggers will dispatch the click event.

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

Huh, that first excerpt is interesting - in an earlier test, the click event did not get triggered when I bound the listener to an anchor on which I pressed <kbd>Enter</kbd>. See e.g. here: codesandbox.io/s/4r3rl2nrz7?expanddevtools=1

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 13:38

@Vincent In your example, your a anchor lacks an href attribute to make it a link. So the a tag will have no default action.

– Adam
Jan 8 at 14:28

Ah, right. But then that first excerpt is, I think, about something else: clicking a button (or anchor) activates its default behaviour. Whereas the question was not about what happens when you click the button, but about why the click event is triggered when you don't click the button. (Which I think the other two excerpts show.) Anyway, thanks :)

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 14:39

add a comment |

This is documented in WCAG: SCR35: Making actions keyboard accessible by using the onclick event of anchors and buttons:

While onclick sounds like it is tied to the mouse, the onclick event is actually mapped to the default action of a link or button. The default action occurs when the user clicks the element with a mouse, but it also occurs when the user focuses the element and hits enter or space, and when the element is triggered via the accessibility API.

This is also stated in UIEVents /click section:

In addition to being associated with pointer devices, the click event type MUST be dispatched as part of an element activation, as described in §3.5 Activation triggers and behavior.

The Activation trigggers paragraph states that:

User-initiated activation triggers include clicking a mouse button on an activatable element, pressing the Enter key when an activatable element has focus, or pressing a key that is somehow linked to an activatable element (a hotkey or access key) even when that element does not have focus.

Which means that any of those triggers will dispatch the click event.

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

Huh, that first excerpt is interesting - in an earlier test, the click event did not get triggered when I bound the listener to an anchor on which I pressed <kbd>Enter</kbd>. See e.g. here: codesandbox.io/s/4r3rl2nrz7?expanddevtools=1

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 13:38

@Vincent In your example, your a anchor lacks an href attribute to make it a link. So the a tag will have no default action.

– Adam
Jan 8 at 14:28

Ah, right. But then that first excerpt is, I think, about something else: clicking a button (or anchor) activates its default behaviour. Whereas the question was not about what happens when you click the button, but about why the click event is triggered when you don't click the button. (Which I think the other two excerpts show.) Anyway, thanks :)

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 14:39

add a comment |

This is documented in WCAG: SCR35: Making actions keyboard accessible by using the onclick event of anchors and buttons:

While onclick sounds like it is tied to the mouse, the onclick event is actually mapped to the default action of a link or button. The default action occurs when the user clicks the element with a mouse, but it also occurs when the user focuses the element and hits enter or space, and when the element is triggered via the accessibility API.

This is also stated in UIEVents /click section:

In addition to being associated with pointer devices, the click event type MUST be dispatched as part of an element activation, as described in §3.5 Activation triggers and behavior.

The Activation trigggers paragraph states that:

User-initiated activation triggers include clicking a mouse button on an activatable element, pressing the Enter key when an activatable element has focus, or pressing a key that is somehow linked to an activatable element (a hotkey or access key) even when that element does not have focus.

Which means that any of those triggers will dispatch the click event.

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

This is documented in WCAG: SCR35: Making actions keyboard accessible by using the onclick event of anchors and buttons:

While onclick sounds like it is tied to the mouse, the onclick event is actually mapped to the default action of a link or button. The default action occurs when the user clicks the element with a mouse, but it also occurs when the user focuses the element and hits enter or space, and when the element is triggered via the accessibility API.

This is also stated in UIEVents /click section:

In addition to being associated with pointer devices, the click event type MUST be dispatched as part of an element activation, as described in §3.5 Activation triggers and behavior.

The Activation trigggers paragraph states that:

User-initiated activation triggers include clicking a mouse button on an activatable element, pressing the Enter key when an activatable element has focus, or pressing a key that is somehow linked to an activatable element (a hotkey or access key) even when that element does not have focus.

Which means that any of those triggers will dispatch the click event.

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

edited Jan 7 at 17:36

Peter Mortensen

13.6k1984111

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

answered Jan 7 at 15:34

Adam

11.9k1635

Huh, that first excerpt is interesting - in an earlier test, the click event did not get triggered when I bound the listener to an anchor on which I pressed <kbd>Enter</kbd>. See e.g. here: codesandbox.io/s/4r3rl2nrz7?expanddevtools=1

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 13:38

@Vincent In your example, your a anchor lacks an href attribute to make it a link. So the a tag will have no default action.

– Adam
Jan 8 at 14:28

Ah, right. But then that first excerpt is, I think, about something else: clicking a button (or anchor) activates its default behaviour. Whereas the question was not about what happens when you click the button, but about why the click event is triggered when you don't click the button. (Which I think the other two excerpts show.) Anyway, thanks :)

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 14:39

add a comment |

Huh, that first excerpt is interesting - in an earlier test, the click event did not get triggered when I bound the listener to an anchor on which I pressed <kbd>Enter</kbd>. See e.g. here: codesandbox.io/s/4r3rl2nrz7?expanddevtools=1

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 13:38

@Vincent In your example, your a anchor lacks an href attribute to make it a link. So the a tag will have no default action.

– Adam
Jan 8 at 14:28

Ah, right. But then that first excerpt is, I think, about something else: clicking a button (or anchor) activates its default behaviour. Whereas the question was not about what happens when you click the button, but about why the click event is triggered when you don't click the button. (Which I think the other two excerpts show.) Anyway, thanks :)

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 14:39

Huh, that first excerpt is interesting - in an earlier test, the click event did not get triggered when I bound the listener to an anchor on which I pressed <kbd>Enter</kbd>. See e.g. here: codesandbox.io/s/4r3rl2nrz7?expanddevtools=1

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 13:38

@Vincent In your example, your a anchor lacks an href attribute to make it a link. So the a tag will have no default action.

– Adam
Jan 8 at 14:28

Ah, right. But then that first excerpt is, I think, about something else: clicking a button (or anchor) activates its default behaviour. Whereas the question was not about what happens when you click the button, but about why the click event is triggered when you don't click the button. (Which I think the other two excerpts show.) Anyway, thanks :)

– Vincent
Jan 8 at 14:39

add a comment |

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