# Don't press tab and space

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [May 16, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110 "2011-05-16T17:23:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/21 "2011-05-17T08:40:05Z")

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I don’t believe you let’s try it.

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**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/22 "2011-05-17T09:52:20Z")

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How so

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/23 "2011-05-17T13:01:22Z")

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It was the best of times it was

Huh.

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**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/24 "2011-05-17T15:14:10Z")

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> [@Sandwich](#):
>
> Is this a bug or a feature?

Go to any website. Click anywhere on the page that’s not a button or link. Now press tab. Press it again. And again. See what’s happening? Now press space.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/25 "2011-05-17T16:02:50Z")

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Of course this only works on some systems. I imagine it’s A Windows feature? On Mac OS with Safari the tab+space doesn’t act that way. If I’m in the Quick Reply box, typing away, and press Tab, the Forum Jump drop-down is selected. If I then press Space, it shows me the list of Forums in the Forum Jump drop-down.

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/26 "2011-05-17T16:09:43Z")

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> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> Of course this only works on some systems. I imagine it’s A Windows feature? On Mac OS with Safari the tab+space doesn’t act that way. If I’m in the Quick Reply box, typing away, and press Tab, the Forum Jump drop-down is selected. If I then press Space, it shows me the list of Forums in the Forum Jump drop-down.

That is one of the things you would eventually tab to, but it’s odd that it goes from the quick reply box directly to the forum jump box. On my browser it has a few other things to go through first to first.

Actually, just testing it, tab goes from the quick reply box, to post, then advanced, then a few of the links, then back up to the top, then meanders to the page and eventually back to the forum jump drop down. It’s actually much faster to get there by Shift+Tabbing backwards, then it’s only a few steps.

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**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/27 "2011-05-17T16:22:27Z")

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> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#):
>
> Of course this only works on some systems. I imagine it’s A Windows feature? On Mac OS with Safari the tab+space doesn’t act that way. If I’m in the Quick Reply box, typing away, and press Tab, the Forum Jump drop-down is selected. If I then press Space, it shows me the list of Forums in the Forum Jump drop-down.

That’s the same behaviour as what is being described in this thread - the only difference is that your browser is interpreting the order/availability of form fields differently for some reason.

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**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/28 "2011-05-17T16:27:22Z")

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Gotcha y

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/29 "2011-05-17T16:35:56Z")

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I assume tab order something you can set/control in HTML–is it?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/30 "2011-05-17T21:15:49Z")

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Interestingly, on OSX and Firefox, tab just toggles between the text box and the “post quick reply” button, without ever going to any other link or control. If any other link or control is active, tab goes to the text box, and into the same box-button loop. And if the URL box is active, then tab goes to the quick-Google box, and then to the entire content of the window, and then to the quick-reply text box.

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**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/31 "2011-05-17T22:21:45Z")

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deleted

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**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/32 "2011-05-17T23:28:43Z")

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> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> I assume tab order something you can set/control in HTML–is it?

Here, LMGTFY:

[From W3](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#adef-tabindex):

> [@](#):
>
> 17.11.1 Tabbing navigation
> 
> Attribute definitions
> 
> tabindex = number [CN]  
> This attribute specifies the position of the current element in the tabbing order for the current document. This value must be a number between 0 and 32767. User agents should ignore leading zeros.
> 
> The tabbing order defines the order in which elements will receive focus when navigated by the user via the keyboard. The tabbing order may include elements nested within other elements.
> 
> Elements that may receive focus should be navigated by user agents according to the following rules:
> 
> 1. Those elements that support the tabindex attribute and assign a positive value to it are navigated first. Navigation proceeds from the element with the lowest tabindex value to the element with the highest value. Values need not be sequential nor must they begin with any particular value. Elements that have identical tabindex values should be navigated in the order they appear in the character stream.
> 2. Those elements that do not support the tabindex attribute or support it and assign it a value of “0” are navigated next. These elements are navigated in the order they appear in the character stream.
> 3. Elements that are disabled do not participate in the tabbing order.
> 
> The following elements support the tabindex attribute: A, AREA, BUTTON, INPUT, OBJECT, SELECT, and TEXTAREA.
> 
> In this example, the tabbing order will be the BUTTON, the INPUT elements in order (note that “field1” and the button share the same tabindex, but “field1” appears later in the character stream), and finally the link created by the A element.
> 
> ```auto
> 
> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
> "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
> <HTML>
> <HEAD>
> <TITLE>A document with FORM</TITLE>
> </HEAD>
> <BODY>
> ...some text...
> <P>Go to the 
> <A tabindex="10" href="http://www.w3.org/">W3C Web site.</A>
> ...some more...
> <BUTTON type="button" name="get-database"
> tabindex="1" onclick="get-database">
> Get the current database.
> </BUTTON>
> ...some more...
> <FORM action="..." method="post">
> <P>
> <INPUT tabindex="1" type="text" name="field1">
> <INPUT tabindex="2" type="text" name="field2">
> <INPUT tabindex="3" type="submit" name="submit">
> </P>
> </FORM>
> </BODY>
> </HTML>
> 
> ```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/33 "2011-05-18T00:41:23Z")

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Neat

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/34 "2011-05-19T21:00:07Z")

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well I’ll be dar

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**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/35 "2019-06-09T15:17:59Z")

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testing

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**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/36 "2019-06-09T17:07:32Z")

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testing

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**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/37 "2019-06-10T13:46:29Z")

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Try Alt-F4, it will REALLY blow your mind!

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**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/38 "2019-06-12T00:13:30Z")

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> [@Slash1972](#):
>
> Try Alt-F4, it will REALLY blow your mind!

Only if it actually sends me back in time 4 minutes.

If all it does is delete my desktop files, I’m not interested.

ETA: it has its own Urban Dictionary page! [Urban Dictionary: Alt+F4](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ALT%2BF4)

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/39 "2019-06-12T02:53:18Z")

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Is this a message board thing or is it my brow

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-press-tab-and-space/582110/40 "2019-06-12T02:54:30Z")

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ser?

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