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Re: Access Keys

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From: mhysnm1964@gmail.com
Date: Mar 28, 2018 10:51PM


All,

Old solution but a goodie. Taking the page out of desktop apps. Remapping. Thus you could set up a set of keys and allow the user to remap them.

Personally, a standard way must be introduced into browsers and not conflict with the OS built-in shortcut keys. Single key access in my book is a no no. AS firefox can use this to search through your page if you have turned on the option, demonstrating a non-assistive tech possible conflict. I prefer firefox's method of ctrl+shift or alt+shift.

Shortcut keys in my view are very useful for non-screen reader users. (I am a screen reader user). I find they get in my way.

Sean
-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of glen walker
Sent: Wednesday, 28 March 2018 10:55 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Access Keys

The i18n aspect doesn't bother me. If I frequented another country's site, it wouldn't bother me if search was some letter I don't associate with searching. It would just be a learning curve and then eventually, I would associate that letter with searching (muscle memory) on their site.

But it sounds like in general we agree.



On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 1:33 PM, John Foliot < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi Glen,
>
> To be sure, accesskeys can be hugely beneficial, but only in limited
> instances. Discoverability (and also related: internationalization),
> along with conflict management (what happens if a key stroke combo is 'reserved'
> by assistive tech, for example), remain problematic.
>
> In an 'intranet' solution, I'd be all over accesskeys for common
> commands or activities, but for most general purpose sites, I'd
> recommend not bothering, in part because there is no standardization
> of what key stroke would map to what function (both a benefit and a
> curse). Looking at your "Search" example and internationalization
> issues, what would you map the accesskey to? "S" for Search? "C" for
> Chercher (French)? "B" for Buscar (Spanish)?
>
> Note as well that the new SC in WCAG 2.1 (Draft) emerged with a
> requirement ("A mechanism is available to remap the shortcut to use
> one or more non-printable keyboard characters" - one of 3 possible solutions.
> https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#character-key-shortcuts) that suggest a
> multi-character string (The Understanding document will reference
> voice-activated "shortcuts" that require more than a single key), so
> it's a bit of a quicksand situation today.
>
> Personally, I would proceed with extreme caution.
>
> JF
>
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 2:03 PM, glen walker < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> > Hi John. Regarding your last statement, does that mean if a page
> > *does* have a high-frequency visit rate, then it *is* worth it to
> > have
> accesskeys?
> >
> > Speaking as a keyboard user, I'd say yes, because it makes my life
> easier,
> > but I'd only want accesskeys on things that are commonly used on
> > that page. I don't expect every button or link to have one. Just 1
> > or 2 or maybe 3 elements on the page.
> >
> > Not to digress too far into another subject, but a page like
> > amazon.com, the first thing I always do there is search for
> > something, yet the
> initial
> > focus is not on the search field. Same with imdb.com. Whereas
> > craigslist.org and wikipedia.org both put the focus in the search
> > field (which is not the first focusable object on the page). If a
> > site chooses not to put the initial focus on a commonly used
> > element, it would be
> really
> > nice if there was an accesskey so I could quickly put my focus there.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 7:15 AM, John Foliot < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Bottom line: they are not required, they can be problematic, and
> > > unless
> > the
> > > site/page has a high-frequency repeat-visit rate, not worth the effort.
> > >
> > > JF
> > >
> > >
> > > > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > >
>
>
>
> --
> John Foliot
> Principal Accessibility Strategist
> Deque Systems Inc.
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>
> Advancing the mission of digital accessibility and inclusion
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >