Re: Clarification needed on W3C specifications for CHECKBOX w ACCESSKEY

Ed,

The accesskey portion of HTML 4 has been interpreted in
different ways by various developers.  I think there is a
general consensus that the HTML 4 accesskey specification was
not very well thoughout or implemented.  XHTML 2 is right now
trying to figure out how to fix this in new recommendations.

Jon


---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:28:26 -0600
>From: Ed.Kautz@Metavante.com  
>Subject: Clarification needed on W3C specifications for
CHECKBOX w ACCESSKEY  
>To: w3c-wai-ua@w3.org
>
>   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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Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Director of IT Accessibility Services
Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES)
and 
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Disability Resources and Education Services (DRES)

Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248
Cell: (217) 714-6313

E-mail: jongund@uiuc.edu

WWW: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/
WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/

Received on Friday, 27 January 2006 15:56:33 UTC