Re: ACCESSKEY

At 03:48 PM 2001-04-04 -0400, Emond Elizabeth wrote:
>Alternatively, is there a screen reader, Browser or any vehicle I can
>reference for the user to use if they want to have this feature - keep
>the code going down the number scale because there is at least something
>out there that will be able to execute it?
>

AG::

Sure, Lynx has had this function for a while now.  Go to link by number.  Or
for longer it has had follow link by number.  But it won't execute scripts.  A
single feature is not a browser.  Your users can't just change browsers to
obtain a single feature.

>I am developing a web site and am trying to make it "state of the art"
>accessible.  I am running into a problem as to how to properly code so
>the screen reader/browsers can read the ACCESSKEY attribute.
>

AG::

For TABINDEX you need to decorate all the possible value holders, but for
ACCESSKEY you want to use it selectively:  Not everything, but the most
frequently used items and items that appear on every page so that a repetitive
pattern of key codes is worth establishing.  Use ACCESSKEY for these pervasive
functions, and let the user read the link content before following the others.

For example, in the email archives, the "next message in chronology" and "next
message in thread" links are consistent functions on each message page.  It
makes sense to have remembered commands for these functions.  But where the
sense of the action is changing from page to page, there is no payoff to
navigate to the explanation of the ACCESSKEY values and then use an
ACCESSKEY. 
One can as quickly navigate among the links, listen to them, and follow one
that sounds about like what you want.

For an example, see

 National Multiple Sclerosis Society - My Community
 <http://www.nationalmssociety.org/mycommunity/index.asp>http://www.nationa
lmssociety.org/mycommunity/index.asp


Al


 of major functional divisions.

>HTML 4.0 standards, 17.11.2 is very clear on how to do this.  What is
>happening is there appears to be a limit as to how many references can
>be put on a page.  I think the sentence in this standard of -> "An
>access key is a single character from the document character set."<-
>is the problem and hope someone out there can tell me how to code for
>more than 10 and/or more than A-Z (single character?) references.
>
>The page I am developing is functioning like a Portal page.  I do not
>have all the links yet (from the customer) but I am already up to 53. 
>Is there any way I can have a user jump down to link #48, for instance,
>without having to tab one by one by one down the page each time to
>finally get to #48?  This will be a pretty high visibility web site so
>what I do "wrong" will probably be noticed.
>
>We ran the page through JAWS (alt, 31, Enter) and JAWS will not read the
>#31, it reads three then stops and takes me to the location for the
>hyperlink coded as ACCESSKEY="3".
>
>Alternatively, is there a screen reader, Browser or any vehicle I can
>reference for the user to use if they want to have this feature - keep
>the code going down the number scale because there is at least something
>out there that will be able to execute it?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Elizabeth
>

Received on Thursday, 5 April 2001 01:45:53 UTC