Navigating using the keyboard

Accessibility features help users who have a disability, such as restricted mobility or limited vision, to use information technology products successfully.

The Management Console user interface is navigable using the keyboard. The Tab key is used to iterate forward through the controls in a particular scope (for example, a dialog or a view and its related icons); Shift+Tab can be used to iterate backward. To navigate to the main controls for the application or to tab out of views that use the Tab key, use Ctrl+Tab.

Menus

Most menus are assigned mnemonics for each entry which allow you to select them by typing the underlined letter instead of the mouse. You can also select an item by moving through the menus and sub-menus with the arrow keys.

The various menus available can be accessed using the keyboard in the following ways:

  • F10 accesses the menus on the main menu bar.
  • Shift+F10 pops up the context menu for the current view. (Note: this shortcut is actually dependent on your window manager, but for most people it should be Shift+F10.)
  • Ctrl+F10 will open the pull down menu for the current view if there is one.
  • Alt+mnemonic will activate the Management Console menu for a particular entry (for example Alt+F will bring down the File menu).
  • Pressing Alt will give focus to the menu bar.

Controls

Mnemonics are assigned to most control labels (for example, buttons, check boxes or radio buttons) in dialog boxes, preference pages, and property pages. To access the control associated with a label, use the Alt key along with the letter that is underlined in the label.

For check boxes in a view or dialog, you can use mnemonics to select or unselect the check box or you can use the following key combinations:

  • Use Tab or Shift+Tab to navigate to the checkbox control
  • Use space bar to select/unselect the checkbox

For check boxes within a tree column, use the selection toolbar that is on the bottom of the tree view:

  • Use Tab or Shift+Tab to navigate to the tree
  • Use Up or Down arrows to select tree item
  • Use Tab to navigate to the selection toolbar
  • Use Right or Left arrows to iterate through toolbar buttons
  • Use space bar to activate selected button

Navigation context

Navigation context is saved for the navigator views, preferences and properties dialogs. The selected page for the preferences and properties dialog is saved between invocations of the dialog but are not saved between Management Console invocations.

Cycling views and perspectives

To switch between views and perspectives, the Management Console provides a cycling function that is invoked by Ctrl and a function key. All of these cycling functions recall the last thing selected to allow for rapid cycling back and forth between two items. The cycling functions are:

  • Ctrl+F7 - Cycle to view
  • Ctrl+F8 - Cycle to perspective

Following embedded links

For links embedded in the views, press Enter key to activate the currently selected link.

Tree navigation

You can navigate tree controls by keyboard using the following key combinations:

  • To expand or collapse a tree node, press Right or Left arrows
  • To move to the next topic node, press Down arrow
  • To move to the previous topic node, press Up arrow
  • To scroll all the way up or down press Home or End
  • Shift+F10 pops up the context menu for the selected item.

Toolbar buttons

You can navigate the toolbar buttons by keyboard using the following key combinations:

  • Use Tab or Shift+Tab to navigate to the toolbar
  • Use Right or Left arrows to iterate through toolbar buttons
  • Press space bar to activate selected toolbar button

Tabs navigation

You can navigate tabs by keyboard using the following key combinations:

  • Use Tab or Shift+Tab to navigate to a group of tabs
  • Use Right or Left arrows to iterate through tabs

Help system

You can navigate the help system by keyboard using the following key combinations:

  • Press F1 to open the help.
  • Pressing Tab inside a frame (page) takes you to the next link, button or topic node.
  • To expand or collapse a tree node, press Right or Left arrows.
  • To move to the next topic node, press Down arrow or Tab.
  • To move to the previous topic node, press Up arrow or Shift+Tab.
  • To display selected topic, press Enter.
  • To scroll all the way up or down press Home or End.
  • To go back press Alt+Left arrow; to go forward press Alt+Right arrow.
  • To go to the next frame, or toolbar press Ctrl+Tab (Ctrl+F6, if using Mozilla, or Mozilla based browser).
  • To move to previous frame, press Shift+Ctrl+Tab. (Shift-Ctrl+F6, if using Mozilla, or Mozilla based browser).
  • To move to the frame displaying topic content press Alt+K (when using embedded help browser on Windows, or Internet Explorer).
  • To move to Contents tab, press Alt+C
  • To move to Search Results tab, press Alt+R To move between tabs, press Right/Left arrows.
  • To switch view, select a tab and press Enter.
  • To switch and move to a view, select a tab and press Up arrow.
  • To move to the search entry field, press Alt+S To print the current page or active frame, press Ctrl+P.
  • To find a string in the current page or active frame, press Ctrl+F (when using embedded help browser on Windows, or Internet Explorer).

Most labels of controls on help system pop-up dialogs have mnemonics are assigned to them. To access the control associated with a label, use the Alt key along with the letter that is underlined.

IBM and accessibility

See IBM Accessibility Research for more information about the commitment that IBM® has to accessibility.