Re: Access Keys for Accessibility. Uh oh!!!!

Every solution uncovers another problem.  

Thanks for reminding me about the sticky-key users. Does this mean that the
use of ACCESSKEY (in the short-term) is going to raise more barriers to
keyboard access than it will solve?  It may be so as long as we are limited
to using an already overused standard keyboard sequence to get the
attention of the some software or other.  

Has the User Agent working group tackled this issue?  Are they recommending
a specific "non-alt" key to work with accesskey? Can they? Should they? 

But is it really a problem?  I thought there was at least one sticky-key
program that could distinguish between a press-and-hold combination and a
sequential press combination?  If not, surely it is possible to add that
functionality to a sticky-key routine.  Might that solve the problem?

Regards,
Chuck

At 09/05/99 10:43 AM , Alan Cantor wrote:
>> At least in Internet Explorer, it turns out that you can use all the letter
>> keys for ACCESSKEY choices.   For example, if you have set an
>> ACCESSKEY="f", to activate it you must press and hold the alt-key then
>> press the f-key.  However, to activate the application/Windows "File" menu
>> you can press and release the alt-key then press the f-key.  IE assumes
>> that simultaneous contact means "do the ACCESSKEY" while sequential contact
>> means "do the application menu". I don't know if this will follow for other
>> browsers when they support ACCESSKEY, but Microsoft certainly got this one
>> right.
>
>What if someone cannot hold down two keys simultaneously? What happens
>when single-digit typists use StickyKeys select a menu as well as to
>activate ACCESSKEYs? 
>
>Alan
>
>Alan Cantor
>Cantor + Associates
>Workplace Accommodation Consultants
>New e-mail address: acantor@interlog.com
>http://www.interlog.com/~acantor
>

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Received on Sunday, 9 May 1999 12:42:33 UTC