Clarification needed on W3C specifications for CHECKBOX w ACCESSKEY

Good day,

I have questions on the specifications of, and the expected results of, 
setting and using an ACCESSKEY on a CHECKBOX in an HTML form.

I have reviewed your documentation and testing of setting an ACCESSKEY on 
a CHECKBOX at this web page:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/UA/TS/html401/cp0101/0101-ACCESSKEY-CHECKBOX.html
but this did not answer my questions.

I am using Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0.2800.1106 to display 
your test web page. 
The result of pressing the ALT-A keys in succession toggles the check in 
the box off and on.

Is this the result I should expect according to the W3C specifications or 
the way the MS IE browser interprets the W3C specifications? 

If this result conforms to the W3C standards, why are the CHECKBOX 
ACCESSKEY results different from other FORM fields accessed by ACCESSKEYS? 


For other FORM field types, the ACCESSKEYS set focus to a FORM FIELD but 
do not change the FIELD value. For other field types, ACCESSKEY strokes 
results are the same as if the user TABBED to the FORM field, only in one 
set of key strokes, without changing the FIELD value.

I expected the ACCESSKEY to provide the same results as when TABBING 
through a form to reach a CHECKBOX. Upon tabbing to the CHECKBOX, the 
CHECKBOX value is not toggled, the user must press the SPACEBAR to toggle 
the check. 

The real problem arises when I use the first letter of a form field as the 
access key, and the form has multiple fields that all start with the same 
letter, and one of the fields is a CHECKBOX. As I cycle through the form 
using the ACCESSKEY, when I reach the CHECHBOX field, the CHECKBOX value 
is toggled. This is not the result I expect.

For example, say an HTML form made up of many fields contains 4 fields 
that start with the letter 'D'. These 4 fields all have ALT-D as their 
ACCESSKEY sequence. When the form displays, focus is on the first field. I 
decide I want to use the ACCESSKEY to move to the last field(fourth field) 
with an ACCESSKEY of ALT-D. I press ALT-D four times to move to the 
correct field. As I press ALT-D the third time, focus is set on the 
CHECKBOX field(third field with the ACCESSKEY of ALT-D) and the CHECHBOX 
value is toggled. I did not want to change the value of this field, only 
skip past it with a fourth press of ALT-D to get to the field I wanted. 

My expectations of an ACCESSKEY is to only give access to a field, not 
change the field. When an ACCESSKEY stroke is used to get to an INPUT 
field of type TEXT, the field is not cleared. A user must perform other 
keystrokes to actually change the field.

Thank you for your time and any clarification you can offer,

Ed Kautz
Conversion Technical Solutions
Metavante Corporation
414 371-(6)7762
Ed.Kautz@metavante.com 
 

 
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