The current Administrator menu requires both a mouse and JavaScript. As part of my Google Summer of Code project I have created a new module for Joomla 1.6 which provides an accessible menu for the backend.

The current menu does not give focus to the top level of the menu so if you try to navigate with the keyboard, you skip right over the menu. The menu also doesn't work if JavaScript is turned off.

This new module has the following features:

• It works with a mouse whether or not JavaScript is on.
• It is fully keyboard accessible when JavaScript is on.
• If JavaScript is off, then the keyboard still works and is visible, though only the currently focused item and any submenu below it are seen. Older versions of Internet Explorer do not have keyboard accessibility with JavaScript off.

I am in the process of testing this new menu module.

To see some of the techniques I used, see my article on basic accessible menu tips.