- From: Alan Cantor <acantor@interlog.com>
- Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 23:08:51 -0500
- To: "WAI Interest Group" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
| I would like what criterion you use for the choice the accesskey. | | Is it important to avoid the accesskey coincide with the browser's accesskeys? Yes, it is important to avoid conflicts with the browser's shortcut keys. If there are conflicts, anybody who uses keyboard only techniques to access menus -- including people who are blind, have low vision, or certain mobility impairments -- will get very frustrated! In general, you can choose as accesskeys any letter or number that is NOT used by any of the major graphic-based browsers. For example, you should avoid Alt +F, E, H because these keystroke combinations are almost universally used for File, Edit, and Help respectively. If you check all of the recent versions of all of the major browsers, you may find that the set of available accesskeys is quite small. There may be an additional complication that can arise from using accesskeys. However, this is pure speculation; I don't know for certain. Certain access applications may use Alt key combinations that could conflict with accesskeys. I can't think of any such programs off the top of my head, but perhaps other readers on this list may know of screen readers or text enhancers or other assistive technologies that appropriate unusual Alt key combinations to perform particular tasks. (My guess is that a few Windows-based assistive technologies would use the Alt key as a modifier.) Alan Alan Cantor Cantor + Associates Workplace Accommodation Consultants acantor@interlog.com www.interlog.com/~acantor
Received on Thursday, 9 December 1999 23:07:31 UTC