Fixing the Tab Index with Brian’s Threaded Comments
A lot of blogs are starting to make use of a cool Wordpress plugin called Brian’s Threaded Comments.
This plugin, once enabled, turns your comments into a threaded structure to make it easer for readers to reply to a specific comment.
This is a great plugin, but it isn’t without flaws. There seems to be some sort of JavaScript error in Internet Explorer when I use this plugin with my template, so I’ve disabled it for now.
I have, however, found a fix for the tab index flaw that’s been plaguing me when replying to comments on blogs that use this plugin.
Fixing this problem is fairly simple: add tabindex="5" to the Add Comment button in your template’s comments.php file (the name parameter for the Add Comment button is addcommentbutton in case you’ve changed the text of the button itself).
By adding this tabindex value to the Add Comment button the focus moves to the button when you press the tab key while the comment text area has focus.
Once you’ve added this fix the top of the page will no longer annoyingly gain focus when pressing the tab key while the comment text area has focus. This makes the process of typing and posting a comment much easier for your readers.
Do your readers [me] a favor and implement this tabindex value. They [I] will love you for it.
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20 Comments so far »
HMTKSteve said
on March 1 2007 @ 12:33 pm
Thanks, I made the fix.
Ryan J. Parker said
on March 1 2007 @ 2:06 pm
Awesome! I worked a little bit on getting the plugin to flow well in this template, but it was really messing up IE for some reason.
I noticed this hasn’t been updated for a long time, so it might be better to start from scratch!
sourcer said
on March 1 2007 @ 4:49 pm
I would try this plugin soon, thanks for sharing.
Thilak said
on March 2 2007 @ 4:30 am
Thanks for the fix, I don’t have to worry about messing with its code anymore.
Bobs said
on April 9 2007 @ 2:57 pm
I just wrote an article about this too recently. I thought I was the only one that was so annoyed by this problem.
Gaz said
on April 9 2007 @ 7:39 pm
Thanks. I’ve just added the fix to my blog too.
Amusingly, when I pressed tab from the comment box on your site… I was launched to the top of your page!
Ryan J. Parker said
on April 9 2007 @ 7:44 pm
Bobs, some people still haven’t implemented it. It kills me!
Gaz, what web browser are you using? It works fine for me in Firefox. I’d hate to have the same issue affect people trying to comment here.
Bobs said
on April 9 2007 @ 11:37 pm
Its just good to know that there is another “tabber” out there. How can people not be tabbers really? Such a time-saver. I ended up writing a post about it because I was unable to find any info about it anywhere. And since it annoyed the heck out of me on other blogs, I have been doing all I can to get the word out.
I’m sure you saw, but after HMTKSteve let me know that you had written a post before, I updated my post to let everyone know. I hope some of that traffic is funneling your way as well. I was blessed like crazy when John Chow decided to post about it. I’m sure that just spiked my unique visitors like crazy!
Vijay said
on April 9 2007 @ 11:46 pm
This fix is certainly for the better, since I feel tabbing is the fastest way to move between form fields. As Bobs said, I wonder how anyone cannot be a tabber?
Gaz said
on April 10 2007 @ 2:49 am
The latest firefox 2.0 and Safari, both on the Mac. Tabbing doesn’t work for me on my site after the fix either
If you’re able to tab through the comment fields at azazil.net okay, then it must be an issue with my browsers…
Bobs said
on April 10 2007 @ 10:21 am
@Ryan
I just wanted to let you know that my forum post about the error got Brian’s attention and he plans on fixing it in future releases. He offered me credit for finding the error and posting about it. I will ask him to co-credit you as well since you also posted about the problem and did what you could to get it out there to the community.
Ryan J. Parker said
on April 10 2007 @ 11:10 am
Thanks Bobby.. that’s pretty cool. I just hope everyone uses the new version.
Ryan J. Parker said
on April 10 2007 @ 11:11 am
Gaz, what are you using a silly Mac for?
Gaz said
on April 10 2007 @ 4:48 pm
@Ryan: Why, everything of course! I’ve haven’t used a microsoft product since Windows 98SE… I used to be a Linux guy until it took me 3 days to get Linux to play my DVDs (several years ago I should add), so the Mac was the next best thing
Ryan J. Parker said
on April 11 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Gaz, switch back to Linux (works much better now).
I won’t lie … I’ve become a whore for MS Office… so I mostly use Windows.
Nspeaks said
on August 6 2007 @ 11:33 am
Can somebody tell how to show the text, that your comment is in moderation with brian’s threaded comments plugin? it does not work currently.
Authonpoorn said
on November 18 2008 @ 8:56 am
Hello. It is test.
Alex said
on March 27 2009 @ 3:14 am
Good site, admin.
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