What is the system caret ?

[michaelsanford]

I've noticed on many applications under the accessibility pane an option to move the system caret with focus changes.

I know what focus is, but what's the system caret?

(I write accessible web sites and even though that functionality is handled by the browser itself, it's always good to know what's going on underneath).

 

[scruffy]

the system caret is the cursor or insertion point. I'm not exactly sure what it would imply to move or not move it with focus changes though.

 

[michaelsanford]

Aah that makes perfect sense then.

If you enable that feature then you see a dashed box around each link in sequence when you hit tab (moving the insertion/selection point so a text reader like JAWS can read it and you can select it if you are visually impaired or blind). MS IE seems to do this by default (along with a good deal of the OS' GUI) whereas MacOS doesn't.

Thanks!