Re: Keyboard Operation in UAAG2

This may be bordering on what the AT is supposed to do but it seems to me 
that there are a set of commands which allow for inspection and navigation 
without interaction such as those found in JAWS, Window Eyes and VoiceOver.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jan Richards" <jan.richards@utoronto.ca>
To: "WAI-UA list" <w3c-wai-ua@w3.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 6:03 PM
Subject: Keyboard Operation in UAAG2



Following from today's call...here is an update to the "Keyboard
Commands" idea from last week
(http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ua/2008JanMar/0078.html):

=============================================
*KEYBOARD OPERATION*

The functions provided to operate a user interface using only *keyboard
commands*, without any need for pointer actions. Examples include:
sequential keyboard navigation through a GUI, keyboard shortcuts, and
command line interfaces.

=============================================
*KEYBOARD COMMANDS*

The set of signals that a user interface will accept from a keyboard or
keyboard emulator in a given context (e.g., with focus in a document vs.
with focus in the menus). Signals may be composed of one keyboard event
(e.g., the "Tab" key") or multiple keyboard events that occur either
simultaneously (e.g., "ctrl"+"S") or sequentially (e.g. "alt","F","S").

For the purposes of UAAG 2.0, several types of keyboard commands are
identified:

(a) *Sequential Commands* are those that are not tied to any particular
UI controls or application functions, but rather support traversal of
sets of controls (e.g., repeating "Tab" to move between all active
controls, "arrow" keys to move focus through items in a list).
Sequential commands help users explore what is available.

(b) *Direct Commands* (also called "keyboard shortcuts" or "accelerator
keys") are those tied to particular UI controls or application
functions, allowing the user to navigate-to or activate them without
traversing any intervening controls (e.g., "ctrl"+"S" to save a
document). It is sometimes useful to distinguish direct commands that
are associated with controls that are rendered in the current context
(e.g., "alt"+"D" to move focus to the address bar) from those that may
be able to activate program functionality that is not associated with
any currently rendered controls (e.g., "F1" to open the Help system).
Direct commands help users accelerate their selections.

(c) *Spatial Commands* are those in which the keyboard is used to
control the position of controls in space (e.g., using the arrow keys to
move a mouse pointer by set numbers of pixels). ACCESSIBILITY NOTE:
Spatial commands do not typically enhance exploration or acceleration of
selection of selection and should not be considered an alternative to
direct or sequential commands.

=============================================


Cheers,
Jan

Received on Thursday, 3 April 2008 22:13:57 UTC