WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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RE: Access keys, ie6

for

From: Paul Bohman
Date: Jan 21, 2002 12:07PM

The accesskey attribute is supported in Netscape 6. On the Windows platform,
you use the ALT + (the accesskey character). One thing that I have noticed
is that the focus must first be on the web page itself before the accesskey
will work. In other words, if you just bring up Netscape and go to a page
with accesskeys specified, the accesskeys will not work until you either tab
into the web page or click on it with your mouse.

The WebAIM has a few accesskeys specified:

1 = home page
2 = skip navigation
3 = printer version
4 = index/search

You'll notice that we used numbers rather than letters. I would have
preferred to use letters, but, unfortunately, when you use letters, there is
a much greater likelihood that you will interfere with pre-existing keyboard
shortcuts in either the browser or the assistive technologies (e.g. JAWS,
Home Page Reader).

I have mixed feelings about accesskeys. The idea behind them is good, but
implementation is difficult because of conflicts with other software and the
great variability between different web sites. I admit that I almost never
use the accesskeys on my own site. I forget that they even exist. Even when
I remember that we have them, it's often just as easy to tab with a keyboard
or click with a mouse. Still, we put them there to showcase the technique,
if nothing else.

By the way, I actually prefer the way that Netscape handles accesskeys. You
don't need to do anything extra to make them work. In Internet Explorer in
Windows, you have to use the keyboard shortcut then you have to hit enter.
The extra step severely reduces the efficiency of the technique, in my
opinion.

Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Utah State University
www.usu.edu