RE: AccessKeys and what to use

David
This is the reason for my initial post.
I am trying to get to some sort of consensus over the
existence or otherwise of a set of keys, 
from A through Z and 0 through 9 that could safely be
used.

Cheers
Graham
 --- "David M. Clark" <david@davidsaccess.com> wrote:
> I would like to second the opinion of my esteemed
> colleague from the
> "left coast". :)
> 
> Though I am not a screanreader user, I am
> predominantly a keyboard user.
> I discourage implementation of ACCESSKEY because I
> find that it often
> makes the page more "inaccessible". The main reason
> is that -- at least
> in IE -- a defined accesskey takes precedent over
> the shortcut key of
> the user agent. Ironically, this can force me to use
> the mouse when I
> would otherwise use the keyboard.
> 
> Conceptually, the idea of ACCESSKEY is laudable.
> However, the underlying
> issue -- navigation of a page -- is much better
> address by the User
> Agent.
> 
> Just my $.02.
> 
> dc
> 
> ----------------------------------------
> David M. Clark
> Marathon Ventures
> http://www.marathonventures.com
> dclark@marathonventures.com
> ph: 617/859-3069
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org
> [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org] On
> Behalf Of Kynn Bartlett
> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2001 8:52 PM
> To: Graham Oliver
> Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Subject: Re: AccessKeys and what to use
> 
> 
> Accesskey is problematic.  Basically you have to
> guess at whatever
> keys the user agent, operating system, assistive
> technologies, and
> other programs aren't already using, and use
> something else, and
> hope the user has a way to use them.  This is a bad
> enough problem
> itself (quick fix:  Only use 0-9 as accesskeys...),
> but there are
> further problems with accesskey.
> 
> To create a good user interface, you need to tell
> the user what
> accesskeys are available.  That's where the real
> problem comes in.
> You can't use one user interface to do this -- you
> need to have an
> adaptable UI to pull it off correctly in a decent
> manner, or else
> kludge in pointless verbiage.
> 
> The problem is that you don't want to leave out
> reference to the
> accesskeys if the user can use it, but you don't
> want to put them
> in if the user can't use it.  Your alternatives are
> sensing the
> browser somehow (server-side, javascript), or
> putting in long text
> of the kind "If you have Netscape, blah blah, if you
> have IE,
> blah blah, if you have Opera, blah blah."  The
> latter is generally
> a Bad Idea.
> 
> Accesskey:  Good idea, poorly thought out
> implementation.
> 
> --Kynn
> 
> --
> Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com>
> Technical Developer Liaison
> Reef North America
> Accessibility - W3C - Integrator Network
> Tel +1 949-567-7006
> ________________________________________
> BUSINESS IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL.
> ________________________________________
> http://www.reef.com
> 
> 
> 
>  

=====
'Making on-line information accessible'
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Received on Tuesday, 21 August 2001 22:19:59 UTC