Caret navigation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In computing, caret navigation is a kind of keyboard navigation where a caret (also known as "text cursor", "text insertion cursor", or "text selection cursor") is used to navigate within a text document. It is a fundamental feature for applications that deal with text, for example text editors, word processors and desktop publishing programs.

This kind of navigation is also supported by the Mozilla-based web browsers, where it is referred as "caret browsing". A shortcut key (F7) is assigned to toggle between caret mode and non-caret mode. In caret mode, a blinking caret appears within the webpage. User can then navigate the webpage using arrow keys. The navigation is finer than spatial navigation and tabbing navigation, which deals with hyperlinks only, but most times it is slower.