- From: David Meadows <david@heroes.force9.co.uk>
- Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 23:05:55 -0000
- To: "wai" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Chris Croome <chris@atomism.demon.co.uk> wrote: >Are there any standard access keys assignments? E.g. Alt-S for search or >whatever? And if not is there a danger that every site will have a different set >of keys for people to learn? Well every site on the web currently has a different (non-intuitive) interface for the user to learn, so why should access keys be an exception to this? Seriously, this is an important usability issue. Ideally, all software presents the user with a common interface. Unfortunately the interface standards are different on every platform. How do you make a web page interface match what users see in their other software when you don't know what their other software will look like? Microsoft define common Windows access keys and rules for selecting access keys in "Windows Interface Guidelines for Software Design" (Microsoft Press). But if you follow these guidelines you will probably confuse your Mac and Unix users... Shouldn't the user agent set the access keys based on the standards for the platform it runs on? The HTML mark-up should "suggest", rather than dictate, what the access key will be. The user agent will then determine how to implement it appropriately. The situation would be analogous to the way that HTML "suggests" the presentation of the text but the browser actually determines how it will be displayed. -- David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ] DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david@heroes.force9.co.uk "He who does not imagine in stronger and better lineaments, and in stronger and better light than his perishing mortal eye can see does not imagine at all." -- William Blake
Received on Friday, 29 January 1999 19:02:20 UTC