Comment 1 by jteh on 2013-03-20 22:06
There are two cases here:

1. If your browse mode cursor is already on a focusable object, pressing tab just gets passed through to the browser. In this case, it should honour the tabindex. In other words, if you press tab at least once, from then on, it should honour tabindex.
2. If your browse mode cursor is not on a focusable object, tab searches for the next focusable object, which might not necessarily honour tabindex. This isn't ideal, but I don't know of an alternative that would work in all browsers.
   Does this explain the results you're seeing?

Comment 2 by jteh on 2013-03-20 22:06
Also, if you switch to focus mode with NVDA+space, tabindex should always be honoured.

If this doesn't match the results you're seeing, please provide a test case with exact steps to reproduce.

Comment 3 by jmkenz on 2013-03-21 12:22
Thanks for your response jteh,

Here are some steps that I'm taking to reproduce the issue:

1. Visit http://webdesign.about.com/od/examples/l/bl_aa071105.htm
2. Go into focus mode in the Search input box - this input has no tabindex defined
3. Press tab and focus will change to 'Search' button. Tab again and the focus will change to first menu item.
4. Notice the text boxes labeled 'Field 1', 'Field 2', etc. Those each have tabindex defined. I'm not able to tab into those fields until I have tabbed through the entire page.
5. Once I am in focus mode in the field with tabindex="1", the tab order for the remaining fields is honoured - it does indeed follow tabindex=1, then 2, 3, 4, rather than following the visual order of those fields. The trouble is, getting to the first field with tabindex=1 to begin with. That should happen first when I tab into the page, not last.

Thanks!

Using Firefox 54 and NVDA 2017.2, I am getting completely different results than those provided in #3096 (comment) with http://webdesign.about.com/od/examples/l/bl_aa071105.htm. Going into focus mode on the first edit field of the page and then Tabbing lands me into advertisements, links, and what not - nothing close to what jmkenz reported. This may be due to a change in the contents of the sample URL. Thus, unless @jcsteh, @feerrenrut and others suggest otherwise or can provide updated test cases, I suggest closing. @ehollig

@jmkenzm, @jcsteh I am not sure if I can reproduce this issue. Actually when I tab away from search field NVDA says "search", then "computer science" and so on. Is this still the wrong tab order? If I am walking with down arrow in browse mode the order is the same like in focus mode which is actually the right behavior.

CC @jmkenz
I am not able to reproduce this issue either, when performing the steps outlined in #3096 (comment)
Closing, unless this is still an issue.