Re: Minutes for User Agent Teleconference for March 27 2008

In an effort to keep the momentum going from yesterday's call...here's a 
start at a definition of "Keyboard Commands" (a good high level term in 
my opinion). Hopefully, it can help us organize our thoughts (Note: I 
took "Direct" and "Sequential" from UAAG1.0:

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

Any signals that are sent to a user interface using a keyboard or 
keyboard emulator. Signals may be sent by pressing:
- *single key* (e.g. "A" key, "Tab", "F1", "Mute" hotkey), or
- *multiple keys simultaneously* (e.g. alt+"a", "ctrl"+"alt"+"1")

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

(a) *Direct Commands*: These are commands that are tied to particular UI 
controls or application functions, allowing them to reach these in one 
step (e.g., "alt"+"E" to move focus directly to the "Edit" menu item, 
"ctrl"+"S" to save a document). Often immediately repeating a direct 
command has no additional effect. It is useful to distinguish:

i. *Direct commands associated with currently rendered controls*, which 
are those that ONLY move focus to or activate functionality associated 
with controls that are currently rendered. Examples include:
- "alt"+"E" example above, assuming the Edit menu is visible
- "alt"+"A" to activate "Select All" function once Edit menu is open
- "ENTER" key that activates a form's "Submit" button from anywhere in 
the form

ii. *Direct commands NOT associated with currently rendered controls*, 
which are those that can activate program functionality regardless of 
whether the functionality is associated with any currently rendered 
controls. Examples include:
- "ctrl"+"S" example above
- "F1" to open Help system
- "A" key causing letter "a" to appear in a textarea

(b) *Sequential Commands*: Commands that are NOT tied to particular UI 
controls or application functions, but rather cause changes in UI focus 
or the state of UI controls. Sequential commands can often be repeated 
immediately (e.g., to traverse lists) and it is less common for them to 
actually activate controls. Examples include:
- "tab" to move between controls
- "arrow" keys to move focus between menu items
- "b" key to move to items beginning with "b" in an alphabetical list
- "page down" to scroll a textarea
- "arrow" keys to control a pointing device

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

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Jan



-- 
Jan Richards, M.Sc.
User Interface Design Specialist
Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC)
Faculty of Information Studies
University of Toronto

   Email: jan.richards@utoronto.ca
   Web:   http://jan.atrc.utoronto.ca
   Phone: 416-946-7060
   Fax:   416-971-2896

Received on Friday, 28 March 2008 15:08:14 UTC