To begin dashboard week DS46 started off with a session on accessibility, and my task for the afternoon was to redesign an internally used dashboard to be navigable exclusively using a keyboard.
As with most tableau dashboards, it was designed to be navigated using a mouse. The biggest change I noticed was that actions are not accessible through keyboard actions, meaning some of tableau's most popular features such a filter and highlight actions were not possible.
The way that I worked around this was to replace most of those actions with a combination of drop down filters added to context as well as Fixed LODs. The reasoning behind this was so that the drop downs acted almost acted as highlight actions. Adding the filters to context meant that my percent of total calculations(that acted as labels) were dynamic to the sections that were highlighted.
The other big adaptation was to move all the filters to top right corner of the dashboard. This is because as you tab through dashboards within tableau server, the order is left to right and top to bottom. So if certain drop down filters line up with other dashboard elements the tabbing between filters will not be consecutive.
Designing keyboard navigable dashboards within tableau is difficult, as the keyboard navigation only exists within tableau server, so to test navigation you must upload to tableau server and then test within server.
In conclusion, redesigning and designing dashboards to be fully keyboard-navigable in Tableau presents challenges due to the limitations of keyboard navigation, particularly around interactive features like actions. By using drop-down filters added to context and leveraging Fixed LODs, it is possible to mimic some of these functionalities, it's just important to keep in mind what your're trying to show. Strategic placement of filters, such as grouping them in the top-right corner, enhances the user experience by aligning with the tabbing order in Tableau Server. While the process requires iterative testing within Tableau Server, these adjustments contribute to making dashboards more inclusive and accessible.