What to change
Ask your supplier to make the keyboard position and selected answer separately understandable wherever moving among options does not itself confirm a choice.
A worked example
Illustrative example
In a choice list that requires confirmation, the current selection keeps a check marker while a separate outline shows the option the keyboard is exploring.
Why this matters to your practice
Moving to an option and choosing it are not always the same action. A keyboard marker may show where the visitor is currently navigating, while another marker identifies the answer already selected. Ask your supplier to demonstrate that distinction on controls that use it. The visible state should never suggest that an answer changed when it did not. Review the final selected value too, because a confusing highlight can otherwise create a request that differs from what the visitor intended.
A practical review example
A visitor may have one branch selected while using the keyboard to explore another. If both use the same highlight, they may believe the request changed before confirming it. Ask your supplier to demonstrate the control's intended behaviour and compare its visual and spoken states. Then make a deliberate selection and inspect the review. The final answer should match the visitor's understood action. Different control types may use different familiar patterns, but each needs to make its own current state clear.
How to check the result
Accept when users can identify both their current choice and their current interaction point, with behaviour matching the documented control pattern.
A mistake to avoid
Forcing every custom selector to behave identically can conflict with familiar expectations; choose an appropriate pattern and make its states clear.
Turn reading into a next step
Your action checklist
Work through these checks with your team or supplier. Tick the ones you have resolved and leave unknowns open.
Record what you know, what is still missing and the answer you need from your team or supplier.
Use project decisions only, without personal, patient or confidential details. Entries stay in this page and are not submitted to Kay & Co. Copy or download before leaving; this page does not save your notes.
Further reading
These sources provide background for the topic. The practice examples and checklist are illustrative planning suggestions from Kay & Co.
Related guides
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