WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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RE: Access keys, ie6

for

From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Jan 22, 2002 12:12PM

Jaws 4.01 can be configured to announce the accesskeys in a web document
when it is loaded.

http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/jaws.asp


Jon


At 09:36 PM 1/21/2002 +0000, Philip Pawley wrote:
>I just recently built accessibility into my web-site and have made
>extensive use of keyboard shortcuts to navigate around the page. I would
>like to share my thoughts.
>
>1. Accesskeys are useless unless the user knows what they are. Therefore:-
>
>a. I have labelled them all *on the page* (as well as detailing them in
>the appropriate accessibility section). While I don't like the extra
>clutter, I feel I can live with it.
>
>b. It would be good to have a consensus on some basic shortcuts. For
>instance, what about if all users could go to a site and press Alt-1
>expecting to go straight to the page that details the site's accessibility
>features. If it didn't work, they could conclude the site wasn't built
>with accessibility in mind?
>
>2. While keyboard shortcuts work in Netscape 6, the TAB key doesn't (yet).
>It *does* work in the last few releases of Mozilla, so maybe in Netscape 6.3?
>
>3. I take the point about the conflict problem with using letters. The
>problem is the limitation to only 10 shortcuts. Is there anywhere that
>will tell us which letters we need to avoid. (I can test the browsers but
>can't afford to buy the assistive technologies - particularly as I don't
>need them myself).
>
>You can find my web-site at http://www.alexanderworks.org/ As I am new to
>all this, all critical feed-back would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>
>At 21/01/02 12:07 -0700, you wrote:
> >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
> >
> >