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Thread: access keys (again)

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From: Rich Pedley
Date: Fri, Mar 06 2009 11:55AM
Subject: access keys (again)
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Hi all, normally I'm in total agreement with John Foliot on these, but
I'm working in one of the grey areas and need some clarification and help.

I have developed a better BBCode toolbar than the one that was
currently available for PunBB. I'm also hoping that it could be ported
over for use by other forums.

Most of the Toolbars out there don't hide things when Javascript is
disabled, hence I decided to create this alternative.

Demo:
http://quirm.net/subeshop/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=36

or rather post a reply and see the demo from there.


As Accessify Forum are in the throws of discussing a new forum, one
that is more accessible than their current incarnation, I posted there:
http://www.accessifyforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=66935

and received this in reply -
[quote Ben Cerbera Millard]
I couldn't use access keys to do formatting. For example, selecting
text and pressing Shift+Alt+B did not apply the [b] BBcode to it.
[/quote]

My response was that I'd taken them out deliberately as I feared they
could interfere with other things on the page.

However I am able to add them in, or add them in and allow them to be
user settable, but am loathed do so. Mainly because of the general
mis-use of access keys and the potential for clashes for this
particular project.

A further suggestion has come in that I should add a 'skip' link,
which I'm also considering.


Now a few questions should anyone have time to test it:

Currently I'm adding image links, rather than input type="image", will
that cause any problems?
Thoughts on the accesskeys issue?

Also if anyone can see ways of enhancing it further then please let me
know.

Thanks for you time

Rich

From: David Andrews
Date: Fri, Mar 06 2009 12:45PM
Subject: Re: access keys (again)
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At 01:47 PM 3/6/2009, you wrote:
>My response was that I'd taken them out deliberately as I feared they
>could interfere with other things on the page.
>
>However I am able to add them in, or add them in and allow them to be
>user settable, but am loathed do so. Mainly because of the general
>mis-use of access keys and the potential for clashes for this
>particular project.
>
>A further suggestion has come in that I should add a 'skip' link,
>which I'm also considering.
>
>
>Now a few questions should anyone have time to test it:
>
>Currently I'm adding image links, rather than input type="image", will
>that cause any problems?
>Thoughts on the accesskeys issue?
>
>Also if anyone can see ways of enhancing it further then please let me
>know.
>
>Thanks for you time
>
>Rich

As a user I have mixed feelings about access keys. If they are on a
site I use a lot, they can be useful. As an example, at work we
record our time, vacation etc., via a web application. It has access
keys to save, and do a few other things, and they are useful because
I use the site regularly. On sites I don't visit that often they
aren't as useful, as there are no standards for what key does what --
and none possible because each site is different.

Dave