I have a page with prev and next links:

<link rel="prev" href=";#63;referer=index.php"> 
<link rel="next" href=";#63;referer=index.php"> 

Is it possible to use Javascript to navigate these links if the user presses Left arrow or Right arrow? The link should not activate if they are editing text and the Left or Right arrow is pressed.

This will be used to simplify viewing several image pages.

I have a page with prev and next links:

<link rel="prev" href="http://camera.phor/cameralife/photos/11096&#63;referer=index.php"> 
<link rel="next" href="http://camera.phor/cameralife/photos/5679&#63;referer=index.php"> 

Is it possible to use Javascript to navigate these links if the user presses Left arrow or Right arrow? The link should not activate if they are editing text and the Left or Right arrow is pressed.

This will be used to simplify viewing several image pages.

• javascript
• html
• onkeyup

• A word of accessibility caution: this can hijack arrow keys as screen readers use them to navigate through page elements: webaim/techniques/keyboard – Dave Everitt Commented May 10, 2023 at 20:25

2 Answers 2

Without jQuery: http://jsfiddle/UXPLt/1/.

document.onkeyup = function(e) { // key pressed
    if(document.activeElement.nodeName === "INPUT"
    || document.activeElement.nodeName === "TEXTAREA") {
        return; // abort if focusing input box
    }

    var elems = document.getElementsByTagName("link"),
        links = {};

    for(var i = 0; i < elems.length; i++) { // filter link elements
        var elem = elems[i];
        if(elem.rel === "prev") { // add prev to links object
            links.prev = elem;
        } else if(elem.rel === "next") { // ad next to links object
            links.next = elem;
        }
    }

    if(e.keyCode === 37) { // left key
        location.href = links.prev.href;
    } else if(e.keyCode === 39) { // right key
        location.href = links.next.href;
    }
};

$(document).keydown(function(e){
        if (e.keyCode == 37) {  // left
           $( "a[rel='prev']" ).click();
           return false;
        } else if (e.keyCode == 39) {  // right
           $( "a[rel='next']" ).click();
           return false;
        }
    });