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Thread: Access keys, ie6
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From: sam urquhart
Date: Mon, Jan 21 2002 11:18AM
Subject: Access keys, ie6
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Hi All,
I am currently working for a company that is creating multi-platform services for local
authorities, and have found the WebAIM site extremely useful as reference.
However, I have been trying to find the keyboard shortcut commands for access keys for ie6
and have been unable to do so (I have searched your archives but haven't found this
specifically);
As I understand, ie 4 and 5 are as follows:
Microsoft IE4 press 'alt' and letter at the same time
Microsoft IE5 press 'alt' and letter then press enter
is that right?
I've also heard that this WAI initiative is now supported by Netscape 6. If so, what are
the keyboard shortcuts for that?
Thank you in advance
-Sam Urquhartx
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From: Paul Bohman
Date: Mon, Jan 21 2002 12:07PM
Subject: RE: Access keys, ie6
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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
From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Mon, Jan 21 2002 12:26PM
Subject: Re: Access keys, ie6
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To add to what Paul wrote, on the Mac, accesskey is performed with the
control key, in combination with the accesskey. IE for the Mac supports
accesskey and the implementation follows the link rather than just setting
focus on it.
AWK
On 1/21/02 2:07 PM, Paul Bohman ( = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ) 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.
>
--
Andrew Kirkpatrick, Technical Project Coordinator
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
125 Western Ave.
Boston, MA 02134
E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Web site: ncam.wgbh.org
617-300-4420 (direct voice/FAX)
617-300-3400 (main NCAM)
617-300-2489 (TTY)
WGBH enriches people's lives through programs and services that educate,
inspire, and entertain, fostering citizenship and culture, the joy of
learning, and the power of diverse perspectives.
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From: Philip Pawley
Date: Mon, Jan 21 2002 2:36PM
Subject: RE: Access keys, ie6
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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
>
>
From: Paul Bohman
Date: Mon, Jan 21 2002 4:17PM
Subject: RE: Access keys, ie6
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>> I have labeled them all *on the page* ...
This technique definitely increases the likelihood that someone will notice
the access keys, which, in turn, probably increases the accessibility of the
shortcuts. On the WebAIM site, I have included this information either in
the image alt tags or in the link titles. I agree that this isn't ideal, but
I try to walk the line between accessibility and designer sensibilities. One
of my tasks is to not only train developers in the proper techniques, but to
motivate them and show them that the accessibility fixes won't "ruin" their
site. If you don't mind having the extra information on your site, then by
all means put it there. Many web developers will reject or at least resist
this approach, however--not because the approach is bad but because they
simply don't like it. The access keys on the WebAIM site are meant to show
that accessibility techniques can be used discreetly.
>> It would be good to have a consensus on some basic shortcuts.
I agree. This would be ideal. No such standard exists however. This is one
of the great downfalls of this technique. No one knows if the shortcuts are
there, the shortcuts on each site are different, and, to be honest, even if
you make the shortcuts visible in the page, so few people even know that it
is *possible* to have keyboard shortcuts on a web page that they will most
likely ignore the information or be confused by it.
>> While keyboard shortcuts work in Netscape 6, the TAB key doesn't (yet)
The tab key works in Netscape 6.2, which I have on my computer. I am not a
regular Netscape user, though, so you may know of some quirks which I do
not. I usually open Netscape only when I'm testing a site or a technique on
different browsers.
>> 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.
The limitation to 10 shortcuts is a valid concern. As far as potential
conflicts, I do not know of any list. I'm not sure how useful such a list
would be. We may be able to figure out where the conflicts are for the most
common technologies, but it would be nearly impossible to control for all of
them. Chances are that there is a conflict with either the browser or the
assistive technology for nearly every letter available. That may be a
discouraging thought, but I believe that it is representative of the current
situation.
As a side note, I noticed that the letter L, which you use on your site, is
unavailable when using IBM Home Page Reader, because that is the shortcut
for "links reading mode." "U" and "B" both seem to work, as well as the
numbers you use. I did not check your page with any other technologies.
Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Utah State University
www.usu.edu
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From: Philip Pawley
Date: Tue, Jan 22 2002 9:37AM
Subject: RE: Access keys, ie6
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Thanks for the response Paul,
>>> It would be good to have a consensus on some basic shortcuts.
>
>I agree. This would be ideal. No such standard exists however. This is one
>of the great downfalls of this technique. No one knows if the shortcuts are
>there, the shortcuts on each site are different, and, to be honest, even if
>you make the shortcuts visible in the page, so few people even know that it
>is *possible* to have keyboard shortcuts on a web page that they will most
>likely ignore the information or be confused by it.
Yes, but it doesn't matter if people who can manage very well with a mouse don't know. Those who need the shortcuts as an accessibility aid, would surely soon learn about standard shortcuts if they existed. Is this not something that could be suggested to someone at the W3C? Could they not make the necessary recommendations?
>>> While keyboard shortcuts work in Netscape 6, the TAB key doesn't (yet)
>
>The tab key works in Netscape 6.2, which I have on my computer. I am not a
>regular Netscape user, though, so you may know of some quirks which I do
>not.
I was testing with 6.0 and 6.2.1 but I downloaded 6.2 to check and (on my computer, with Windows 98SE) the TAB key still doesn't work) All it does is toggle the focus in and out of the browser window - and it doesn't even do that consistently. It doesn't even take the focus to the search box as happens in Opera 5 & 6. In contrast, the latest Mozilla tabs beautifully from link to link.
>I noticed that the letter L, which you use on your site, is unavailable when
>using IBM Home Page Reader, because that is the shortcut for "links
>reading mode."
Thanks for the tip: I've now replaced the L with 1.
>Paul Bohman
>Technology Coordinator
>WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
>www.webaim.org
>Utah State University
>www.usu.edu
--
Philip Pawley
Liverpool, UK
http://www.alexanderworks.org/
--
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From: Paul Bohman
Date: Tue, Jan 22 2002 10:36AM
Subject: RE: Access keys, ie6
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>>Is this [accesskey standards] not something that could be suggested to
someone at the W3C? Could they not make the necessary recommendations?
The issue has been brought up before, but, as far as I know, no formal
recommendation has been put forth. I think I will raise the issue again with
them.
>> I was testing with 6.0 and 6.2.1 but I downloaded 6.2 to check and (on my
computer, with Windows 98SE) the TAB key still doesn't work)
I don't know what to tell you on this one. The tab key works for me on my
Win 2000 machine using NS 6.2.
Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Utah State University
www.usu.edu
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From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Tue, Jan 22 2002 12:12PM
Subject: RE: Access keys, ie6
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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
> >
> >
From: Adrian Howard
Date: Wed, Jan 23 2002 10:47AM
Subject: Re: Access keys, ie6
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on 22/1/02 5:36 pm, Paul Bohman at = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = wrote:
>>> Is this [accesskey standards] not something that could be suggested to
> someone at the W3C? Could they not make the necessary recommendations?
>
> The issue has been brought up before, but, as far as I know, no formal
> recommendation has been put forth. I think I will raise the issue again with
> them.
[snip]
The new version of the "Guidelines for UK Government websites" (currently in
consultation) includes a suggested "standard" list for government sites. You
can find it in the "Framework for senior managers", which can be downloaded
from <http://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/webguidelines.htm>;.
The current list is:
S skip navigation
1 home page
2 what