Re: Accesskey: there are "techniques"?

From: "Michael Cooper"
> To second what Tom is saying - in my view the problem with access keys
> conflicting with browser accelerator keys is a user agent problem. The
> problem is that the same modifer key is used to activate keys that are in
> separate "namespaces", the browser namespace and the document namespace.

In HCI this is a modal inteface problem. A key (a command) is used for a
purpose if the sistem is in state 'A', and for another purpose if the system
is in state 'B', and you may not be aware in which state the system is.
Obviously this is a UA problem, I agree... but many accessibility issues are
also UA problems. We should take this into account if we suggest techniques.
Maybe it is possible to suggest some "safe" conventions for accesskey,
limited to the main links (and accesskey should be limited to main links,
some authors think). I think that conventions like 1 for main page, 0 for
accesskey explanation, 2 for skip to content, or so, could help web
developers in using accesskey in their pages without having a degree in
accessibility ;-), and, in the long distance, may help user expectations.
Anyway, some safe and simple conventions could help accessibility to be made
in real world. Just a suggestion in the techniques, not a strong rule, of
course.

Maurizio

Received on Friday, 26 September 2003 21:20:59 UTC