Re: accesskey feedback

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 1:50 PM, Simon Pieters<simonp@opera.com> wrote:
> The spec says:
>
> "Once a user agent has selected and assigned an access key for an element,
> the user agent should not change the element's assigned access key unless
> the accesskey content attribute is changed or the element is moved to
> another Document."
>
> A UA might want to change an element's access key in the following
> situation:
>
>   <input accesskey=a> (no "a" key available, let's assign "1" instead)
>   later in the document:
>   <input accesskey=1> (oops, let's reassign the previous one to "2")
>
> Also, it makes sense to have accesskey be scoped to each top-level browsing
> context rather than per document, so moving to another document might still
> be within the same top-level browsing context. (We want accesskeys in
> iframes to work without having to click in the iframe first.)

I agree with the idea you have in mind, but I think it's
counter-productive on some websites. Those website that uses
accesskeys have pages devoted to the accessibility mechanisms
available on the website [1], where they give the list of the
accesskeys. If the UA changes the accesskeys, theses pages become
false.

> The spec should state that the accesskey feature is not dependent on a
> keyboard device but a hint that the author thinks that this element is
> worthy of having a special easy-to-access mechanism. For instance, on a
> device with touchscreen and no keys, the UA could provide just a menu.

I agree with that.

[1] http://www.laposte.fr/layout/set/popup_footer/content/view/full/164,
in french

-- 
Olivier G.
http://identi.ca/lespacedunmatin
http://www.lespacedunmatin.info/blog/

Received on Friday, 19 June 2009 12:40:02 UTC