The Keyboard Pattern a Dropdown Menu Should Follow Once Open
A custom dropdown menu is open and focus has moved inside its option list. Per the standard WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices pattern for dropdown menus, which key or keys should move between the options?
The correct answer is "Arrow Up/Down."
Once a dropdown menu is open, Arrow Up/Down move between items per the standard ARIA Authoring Practices pattern for that widget type, with Escape closing the menu and returning focus to the trigger. Arrow-key navigation within an open composite widget is the norm across dropdowns, menus, and similar list-based controls.
Tab/Shift+Tab are for moving between top-level focusable elements on the page, not between options inside an already-open widget. Page Up/Page Down aren't part of the standard dropdown pattern. Left/Right arrows are the pattern for a different widget type — a tab list — not a dropdown's vertical option list.
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