Re: Use first letter as ACCESSKEY

On Mon, Feb 24, 2003 at 09:43:14AM +0100, Jesper Tverskov wrote:
> Use first letter as ACCESSKEY
> www.klapmusen.dk/artikel.aspx?xml=20021031&lg=en
> (a new approach to the use of the ACCESSKEY)
> 
> 1. If we always use first letter of the link text as ACCESSKEY, they can be generated by code.
> 2. We do not have to mark the access key letter, because it is always the first one.
> 3. We can have scores of access keys on each page, because the same access key letter can be used many times.

< The access key letter works together with the ALT key.

This isn't always true. That is how some browsers handle access keys,
especially on MS Windows systems. Other systems use different keys. A
list of implmentations on a number of systems can be found at
http://www.hclrss.demon.co.uk/accessibility.html

< You can have access keys to hundreds of links on the same web page
< because many links can share the same letter.

What is a browser supposed to do when two access keys share the same
letter? Currently (In Mozilla at least) you hit Alt+AK and the browser
takes you to the page. How do you deal with conflicts between access
keys?

< It is a common misunderstanding that access keys to links conflicts
< with access keys to the menu bar in the browser if they use the same
< letters. The access key assigned to a link on the web page overrules
< the same letter assigned to the menu bar in the browser. But you can
< still use both! Pressing the ALT key in different ways in the two
< situations can solve the problem.

This requires that users retrain themselves to stop holding down the
alt key when they press another letter to access the menu. It also
fails to address other uses of the key, for example in Internet
Explorer for Windows the key combination Alt+d gives the focus to the
address bar. This makes it easy to type a new address in OR to copy or
edit the existing URL.

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Received on Monday, 24 February 2003 10:35:26 UTC