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Thread: Web Site Access Keys
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Jan Heck
Date: Mon, Oct 31 2011 9:03PM
Subject: Web Site Access Keys
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I ran across this statement on a Web site for an independent living agency:
---
Accessibility Statement: This is the official accessibility statement for
[].
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.
Access Key 1 - Home Page
Access Key 2 - Office Locations
Access Key 3 - Available Programs
Access Key 4 - Medical Equipment Loan
Access Key 5 - Accessibility Consulting
and the list goes on.
---
Is it EVER a good idea to assign access keys that override the browser's
reserved access keys?
Thanks,
Jan Heck
From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2011 12:09AM
Subject: Re: Web Site Access Keys
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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
From: Ryan Hemphill
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2011 7:48AM
Subject: Re: Web Site Access Keys
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While it would probably be a good idea to become well versed in the options
that would not conflict with browsers, screen readers and operating
systems, there is a definite benefit when web sites pass into the realm of
web applications.
Inability to leverage the arrow keys would make more complex widgets
extremely messy, if not completely unusable. I know this from personal
experience. I also see the trend of sites moving to a more 'modal'
principle, which could make key assignment *very* important.
That being said, if you have a site that is simple, normal page format, key
assignments really don't serve a strong purpose. They are, as I like to
say, tapping in a finishing nail with a sledgehammer. You can probably get
away with links to those regions listed at the top of the page and provide
links that will take you to that spot.
I personally don't bother with access keys concept at all. I see them as a
nice-to-have, but not strategically necessary in any of my work.
Ryan
On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 2:10 AM, Jukka K. Korpela < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2011 8:09AM
Subject: Re: Web Site Access Keys
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1.11.2011 15:48, Ryan Hemphill wrote:
> Inability to leverage the arrow keys would make more complex widgets
> extremely messy, if not completely unusable.
Many applications benefit from the use of arrow keys for some natural
purposes like moving around. But I don't see how this relates to access
keys. Or this there some way to use the accesskey=... attribute an a web
page so that it assigns a meaning to an arrow key?
I would normally expect a page that uses arrow keys to do that via
scripting. That's also to make single-character input (say, "1" instead
of "Alt+1" or "Shift+Alt+1") to do something.
Yucca
From: deborah.kaplan@suberic.net
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2011 8:45AM
Subject: Re: Web Site Access Keys
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Jukka wrote:
> 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.
Yes, while access keys usually annoy me because they get in the
way of standard keyboard controls for the browser, the one place
I like them is in a website that I basically use as an
application, the bug tracking system jira. There, the
single-keystroke methods for opening and closing tickets, which
don't interfere with standard browser operations on either
Firefox or Opera, save me a lot of time.
-Deborah
From: Ryan Hemphill
Date: Tue, Nov 01 2011 9:24AM
Subject: Re: Web Site Access Keys
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Well I haven't been using the access keys for anything really, although I
liked your point about Jira, which I will check out now that you have
mentioned it.
I guess what I was trying to state was that access keys have limited use
while the more flexible principle, such as arrow key assignments, has some
very real value. Granted, I was opening up the conversation, but I was just
trying to state a place where key assignments help. I was also pointing
out that there are potential conflicts with key assignments that go beyond
the browser that should be taken into account, such as the operating system
or the screen reader itself.
Sorry if I took a detour guys.
On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 10:06 AM, Jukka K. Korpela < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >wrote:
> 1.11.2011 15:48, Ryan Hemphill wrote:
>
> > Inability to leverage the arrow keys would make more complex widgets
> > extremely messy, if not completely unusable.
>
> Many applications benefit from the use of arrow keys for some natural
> purposes like moving around. But I don't see how this relates to access
> keys. Or this there some way to use the accesskey=... attribute an a web
> page so that it assigns a meaning to an arrow key?
>
> I would normally expect a page that uses arrow keys to do that via
> scripting. That's also to make single-character input (say, "1" instead
> of "Alt+1" or "Shift+Alt+1") to do something.
>
> Yucca
>