Character-only keyboard shortcuts can be turned off, remapped, or focus-scoped
What this criterion checks
This criterion maps to 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts. A detailed plain-language description is maintained in the WebLens criteria catalogue; the WCAG sub-test breakdown below describes exactly what the agent checks and what it does not.
How it's assessed
WebLens walks each user journey, captures a screenshot at every step, and an agent reasons over that evidence. See the how WebLens works for the full pipeline and the deterministic checks layered in for accessibility.
Sub-test coverage
2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts is broken into 3 sub-tests. Coverage is honest about where the agent is reliable, where it only partially checks the requirement, and where a human reviewer is still needed.
1 full1 partial1 not covered
- Detect whether the page has single-character keyboard shortcuts that cause actionsFull
Our tool presses every letter, number, and symbol key (both on its own and with Shift) while nothing specific on the page is focused, and watches for any change — the page navigating, a window opening, content shifting, or focus jumping. This catches the most common shortcut patterns that cause problems for voice input users (whose spoken words get misinterpreted as shortcut keys) and people with motor difficulties who may hit keys accidentally.
- Shortcut is only active when a specific control has focusPartial
Our tool only presses keys when nothing specific on the page is focused (focus is on the page body). A shortcut that only works when a particular widget has focus — like a media player's spacebar-to-pause — will not be detected at all, which is the correct outcome since those are allowed by this criterion. However, since the tool never tests keys while widgets are focused, it cannot confirm whether a detected shortcut also fires within widget focus. If a page has both global shortcuts and widget-specific shortcuts, a person should verify the boundaries.
- Shortcuts can be turned off or remapped to include a modifier keyNot covered
When a single-character shortcut is found, this criterion requires that users can either turn it off or remap it to include a modifier key (like Ctrl or Alt). Checking for a settings panel or remap feature requires navigating the site's preferences — our tool flags the shortcut but cannot verify whether a turn-off or remap mechanism exists. A person needs to look for this.
How reliable it is
This criterion is still building up testing data, so confirm its findings as you review. See Accuracy & confidence for how the confidence tags are set.