Modes of tab navigation

Flash Lite supports three modes of tab navigation: two-way, four-way, and four-way with wrap-around. Different devices and Flash Lite content types support different navigation modes. For information on determining the navigation mode for a specific device and content type, see Determining platform capabilities.

Each navigation mode discussed in the following sections references a sample file that you can view using Adobe Device Central. Each sample file consists of the same three-by-three grid of buttons, as shown below. The only difference between the sample files is that each is configured to target a device and Flash Lite content type that support the navigation mode in question.

To use each sample file, open it in Adobe Flash CS3 Professional and test it using Adobe Device Central (select Control > Test Movie). Click the arrow keys on the emulated device's keypad (or press the arrow keys on your keyboard) to see how each navigation mode affects user navigation.

Two-way navigation In two-way navigation, the device's Up and Down arrow keys move focus from one object (button or input text field) to another; the Left and Right arrow keys have no effect. The Down key moves the focus to the next object on the right. If there are no objects positioned to the right of the current object with focus, focus moves to the leftmost object below the current object with focus. If there are no objects below the rightmost object with focus, focus moves to the top and leftmost object. The Up key moves focus to the next object on the left. If there are no objects to the left of the current object with focus, focus moves to the rightmost object above the object.

For an example of two-way navigation, see the sample file named 2-way.fla located at www.adobe.com/go/learn_flt_samples_and_tutorials. On the Samples and Tutorials page, locate, download and decompress the .zip file for your Flash Lite version, and then navigate to the Samples folder to access the sample.

Four-way navigation In four-way navigation, the user can move focus from one object to another with the device's Left, Right, Up, and Down keys. Pressing the Left key moves the focus from the current object with focus to the object to the left of the button with focus. The Right key moves the focus to the next button to the right of the button with focus. The Up and Down keys similarly move focus to the button above and below the button with focus.

For an example that uses four-way navigation, see the sample file named 4-way.fla located at www.adobe.com/go/learn_flt_samples_and_tutorials. On the Samples and Tutorials page, locate, download and decompress the .zip file for your Flash Lite version, and then navigate to the Samples folder to access the sample.

Four-way navigation with wrap-around This mode is the same as four-way navigation, except that when there are no buttons below the rightmost button with focus, focus moves to the top and leftmost button.

Flash CS3