- From: M. T. Hakkinen <hakkinen@dev.prodworks.com>
- Date: Mon, 16 Feb 1998 14:03:21 -0500
- To: "w3c-wai-gl@w3.org" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>, "w3c-wai-ig@w3.org" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
- Cc: "rjsteffe@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu" <rjsteffe@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu>
We've been looking at how to deal with the ACCESSKEY in webspeak. Because we are aware of the platform, we can announce the correct modifier. The determination of how the access key modifier (Alt or Cmd) is presented should be less a job of the content author and more a function of the browser or screen reader. In our case, the browser will announce the modifier and accesskey for elements which have them defined. When to use access keys is a great question. I think they make sense in frequently used web forms or pages, especially when it allows the user to jump from section to section of a lengthy form. Being able to activate buttons and selectors like radio buttons is useful, but the user won't generally know they are there until having explored the full page or they can recognize that the page follows some form of standardization (e.g., S for activating the Search button, for english pages). As for choosing appropriate accesskey codes, this seems an age old problem. The old rule for me has always been mnemonic selection codes and operating environment standards whenever possible and practical. Arbitrary, alphabet lists or numeric selectors don't aid general usability. There was a great paper on selectors by Gary Perlman from the early eighties if you want a reference. In certain national language environments, Japanese, for example, mnemonic selectors may not be practical and numeric or alpha selectors need to be used. One problem that concerns is me is how to handle conflicts between keys the browser and or user may have defined in their environment. Which takes precedence? Mark -----Original Message----- From: Jon Gunderson [SMTP:jongund@staff.uiuc.edu] Sent: Monday, February 16, 1998 12:45 PM To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org Cc: rjsteffe@ux5.cso.uiuc.edu Subject: ACCESSKEY attribute Does anyone have a good design example of how to use the ACCESSKEY to increase the accessibility of a page. I am working on a project to create some accessible WWW based educational technology and our group has been trying to figure out how to use the accesskey feature to enhance accessibility. Some of the problems we are facing with the access key is the need to explicitly state the presence of the access key in the document, but different Browsers may require different modifier keys to use the access key. For eample in MS-Explorer your need to type ALT-S for ACCESSKEY="S", and on some other browser it may be something else like Ctril-S or just S by itself. So you just can't tell people to type S or ALT-S? Another issue is consistancy, does anybody have any ideas on how to assign keys so people can learn when to expect an access key? Thanks, Jon Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign 1207 S. Oak Street Champaign, IL 61820 Voice: 217-244-5870 Fax: 217-333-0248 E-mail: jongund@uiuc.edu WWW: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund http://www.als.uiuc.edu/InfoTechAccess
Received on Monday, 16 February 1998 14:07:36 UTC