- From: Charles F. Munat <coder@acnet.net>
- Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 18:51:36 -0600
- To: "David Meadows" <david@heroes.force9.co.uk>, "wai" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
David Meadows wrote: "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." ------------- I would like to see an accesskey model that combined both options. I think that certain accesskeys should be built in. That is, I should be able to note that a certain link is to the home page of a site, and the accesskey would be set by the browser according to that browser's layout. So, for example (forgetting for a moment about help), perhaps on Windows with IE it would be Alt-h. And that would be consistent from site to site. I suggest that Help, Site Map, About Us (Bio), Contact Us (Email/Feedback/etc), and so on, be assigned keys by the browser with the page designer simply noting which links are which. Even better would be a way to inform the browser about the structure of the site (via meta tags, XML, whatever) so that the browser "understood" what was what and inserted the appropriate accesskeys accordingly. That said, I would still like to be able to assign a few accesskeys on a site by site basis. And I don't think that there's anything wrong with having to learn new interfaces. Let's face it: most sites are constructed similarly, and navigation systems designed for real navigability are becoming more and more consistent. So the learning curve is pretty short. For example, a "page locator" such as "home > help> accessibility issues" which indicates that this is the "accessibility issues" page in the "help" section which is a branch off the "home" page (and with each step up a link to that page) is becoming more and more common. And although the style varies from site to site, they are similar enough that most people recognize them immediately. (I'd love to see this built into the browser.) For that matter, why is it that every search engine looks like Yahoo? Initially, there is a period of experimentation, but eventually that gives way to a few models that seem to work. So the "new interface" problem, in my opinion, will eventually tend to solve itself. In fact, my sites are starting to look more and more similar, because as I find solutions to problems, I find it increasingly difficult to justify deviating from the system that works best. Most variation in navigation systems on my sites occurs because I've come up with a BETTER way to do it. So, yes, some standardization, but also some room for variation. Finally, I think that accesskeys will become much more useful when we come up with better ways to convey meta information, and more consistent ways to organize and catalog sites. Charles Munat Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Received on Friday, 29 January 1999 20:02:06 UTC