# Tab key navigates to all interactive elements; no keyboard traps; skip links present if more than 4 nav links - **Pattern:** `ab-001599` (`gov-section-508.keyboard-assistive.skip-links`) - **Severity:** high - **Lifecycle:** active - **Last modified:** 2026-04-18 - **Canonical URL:** https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-001599 - **License:** CC-BY-4.0 — attribute to AuditBuffet Pattern Catalog (https://auditbuffet.com/patterns/ab-001599) ## Why it matters When a page has many navigation links, every keyboard user must tab through all of them before reaching main content—on every page load. For users with motor disabilities this is fatiguing; for screen reader users it is repetitive and disorienting. Skip links solve this with a single Tab press from the top of the page. WCAG 2.2 SC 2.4.1 (Level A) requires a bypass mechanism when blocks of content are repeated across pages. SC 2.1.2 (Level A) prohibits keyboard traps that prevent users from leaving a component. Section 508 2018 Refresh 503.3.3 covers both. Navigation-heavy sites with no skip link fail their most basic keyboard-user obligation. ## Severity rationale High because sites with navigation-heavy headers force keyboard users through significant repetitive tabbing on every page load, but they do not completely block access to content. ## Remediation Add a skip link as the first focusable element in `app/layout.tsx`, targeting the `

` element by id: ```tsx // app/layout.tsx export default function RootLayout({ children }) { return ( Skip to main content

{children}