Troubleshooting guide
Keyboard users cannot complete essential journeys: A Practical Diagnostic Path
Keyboard users cannot complete essential journeys can have several causes that look identical from the outside. Use this path to gather useful evidence without making the original problem harder to reproduce.
Record the symptom before changing it
Capture the exact screen, user role, time, device, and sequence that produces the issue. Note whether focus order and status messages are unclear occurs at the same time.
- Save exact error text
- Record the last known working date
- List recent code, content, vendor, DNS, or account changes
Separate reachability, data, and behavior
First confirm whether the affected system can be reached. Then confirm the expected record or content exists. Only then test the behavior supported by wCAG-informed manual and automated review.
- Reachability check for cross-device assistive-technology testing
- Data or content check related to accessibility audits and prioritized remediation
- Behavior check for keyboard, focus, screen-reader, and form repair
Use stop conditions
Stop and preserve evidence if a test could overwrite data, invalidate logs, lock out users, or remove the only working copy. Recovery work needs a known restore path before intrusive changes.
- No confirmed backup
- Unknown production ownership
- Security or payment data may be involved
Verify the repair in the real journey
A green technical check is not enough. Repeat the original journey, test a nearby edge case, and confirm the result from the perspective of organizations improving websites and applications for disabled users.
- Accessibility audits and prioritized remediation
- Accessible design-system and content guidance
- Responsive and accessible web application delivery