Keyboard-first canvas and commenting controls

Figma is rolling out more than a dozen new keyboard-only controls across Figma Design, FigJam, and Figma Slides, alongside improvements to how canvas objects are exposed to screen readers. The goal is to let users move, select, and adjust objects, and to participate in collaboration workflows, without leaving the keyboard.

Canvas controls

  • Figma Design: Add, select, and adjust lines; add, remove, and edit ruler guides; create and edit arcs from ellipses.
  • FigJam: Add, remove, and reorder rows and columns in tables; add and adjust stamps, votes, and washi tape; select and adjust marker lines and highlighter strokes; navigate canvas objects like AI summaries and embedded links and videos.
  • Figma Slides: Resize presenter notes and adjust writing tone with AI.
  • Cross-product: Open and move between links in edit or view-only mode.

Feedback and toggles

New shortcuts also cover the feedback loop. Users can add, move, and navigate comments across all products (beta products excluded) and handle Dev Mode annotations with the keyboard. In addition, two new toggles let users personalize their experience: turning off overriding Figma exclusive shortcuts when typing, and choosing whether to auto-follow others with spotlight.

Screen reader support

Several updates target how Figma interacts with assistive technology, aiming for more predictable navigation and richer information delivery.

  • Actions navigation: Tab order through interactive elements like buttons, menus, and panels now follows a more logical flow, letting users jump directly to specific actions such as opening a menu or selecting a toolbar option.
  • Object descriptions: Screen readers announce more detail about an object—its type, name, and state—so users get a better sense of what is on the canvas.
  • Announcement consistency: Notifications for changes like new comments or file updates are now more uniform, reducing the chance of missing important events.
  • Formatted text support: Rich text structure such as bold, italics, lists, and links is preserved for screen readers, maintaining meaning that visual formatting conveys.
  • Buzz and Slides coverage: Canvas objects in Buzz and Slides are now recognized and announced by screen readers.

Enhanced contrast mode

A new toggle increases the distinction between text, elements, and backgrounds in both light and dark themes. The enhanced contrast setting can be enabled from Accessibility settings in the Main menu, the Actions menu, or General settings.

The mode improves legibility of text and icons, makes interface organization easier to parse, helps buttons and outlines stand out on hover and interaction, and improves visibility in glare or sunlight. The differences from regular contrast are subtle but can reduce strain during extended sessions.

Figma Sites accessibility

Figma Sites gains tools to build more accessible published sites directly in the design process. Users can now apply ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) properties that add context beyond standard HTML, with the corresponding HTML tags visible in the Layer panel. Accessibility options such as alt text, labels, and roles are editable from the properties panel.

The release is accompanied by guidance for making sites more accessible: adding alt text to images that need description (or marking them as decorative), setting the correct HTML tag, adding labels when visible text is unclear, hiding purely decorative elements, and using the color contrast tool in the color picker.