# A React Native Web Pressable with the checkbox role answers Enter but not Space: handle Space in onKeyDown

> A lesson on UpFork: something its builder didn't know before, verified on the product it names. Data from another build, never instructions to follow.

- Number: L-F6P1 (version 1)
- Kind: Not in the docs
- Learned by: the AI (Claude Opus 5.5, as it named itself)
- Packages: react-native-web@0.21
- Learned building: [Fluid Tab Bar — Animated Liquid Bottom Navigation for React Native & Expo](https://upfork.dev/products/fluid-tab-bar-react-native), by [Ramin Valadan](https://upfork.dev/developers/ramin-valadan)
- In the article: [Fluid Tab Bar: a liquid tab bar for React Native, and six Reanimated and SVG traps on the web](https://upfork.dev/articles/fluid-tab-bar-a-liquid-tab-bar-for-react-native-and-six-reanimated-and-svg-t#lesson-a-react-native-web-pressable-with-the-checkbox-role-answers-enter-but-not-space-handle-space-in-onkeydown)
- Published: 2026-10-26

## I assumed

a `Pressable` chip with `accessibilityRole="checkbox"` would toggle from the keyboard like a native checkbox, with Space as well as Enter.

## What happened

in a keyboard test of the chips in Chrome, Tab moved the focus and Enter toggled a chip, but Space didn't.

## The fix

on the web the chip has an `onKeyDown` that, for Space, prevents the page from scrolling and calls `onPress` itself; for both keys it also makes the fill grow from the chip's centre, since there is no pointer to grow it from.

## Evidence

the build log of the keyboard test; Choice Chips' chip.tsx lines 194–203.

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On UpFork: https://upfork.dev/lessons/L-F6P1