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Re: Web Site Access Keys

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From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Nov 1, 2011 12:09AM

1.11.2011 5:02, Jan Heck wrote:

> I ran across this statement on a Web site for an independent living agency:

The site appears to be http://www.threeriversinc.org and it has a link
to the Accessibility Statement near the start of the main page (and
other pages).

> The assigned access keys for this website may override your
> browser¹s reserved keystrokes. To use your browser¹s built-in shortcut
> keystrokes, press the Alt key (do not hold) and then a normal key.

At least they have recognized the problem. But there is no guarantee
that a user who finds his normal shortcuts have strange effects will
navigate to the Accessibility Statement

> Is it EVER a good idea to assign access keys that override the browser's
> reserved access keys?

As any access key assignment may conflict with some reserved access
keys, this boils down to the question whether it is ever a good idea to
assign access keys.

Although access key assignments are mostly bad for accessibility, they
might have some uses _despite_ the accessibility problems. I'm mainly
thinking of their use for specialized applications where the assignments
are used to create keyboard controls for operations. But even this is
questionable except perhaps in a technically homogenous environment
(everyone using the same version of the same browser, etc.) where
everyone knows how to use access keys.

--
Yucca