Re: SV: Use first letter as ACCESSKEY

On Mon, Feb 24, 2003 at 09:23:34 +0100, Jesper Tverskov wrote:
> David's answer:
> What is a browser supposed to do when two access keys share the same
> letter? Currently (In Mozilla at least) you hit Alt+AK and the browser
> takes you to the page. How do you deal with conflicts between access
> keys?
> 
> My comment:
> Yes! And please read the original article carefully. 

I have.

> First letter as ACCESSKEY today only works in Internet Explorer for
> Windows.

So its a case of damn other browsers?

> David's quote from my original article:
> 3) It is a common misunderstanding that access keys to links conflicts
> with access keys to the menu bar in the browser if they use the same
> letters. The access key assigned to a link on the web page overrules
> the same letter assigned to the menu bar in the browser. But you can
> still use both! Pressing the ALT key in different ways in the two
> situations can solve the problem.
> 
> 
> David's answer:
> This requires that users retrain themselves to stop holding down the
> alt key when they press another letter to access the menu. It also
> fails to address other uses of the key, for example in Internet
> Explorer for Windows the key combination Alt+d gives the focus to the
> address bar. This makes it easy to type a new address in OR to copy or
> edit the existing URL.
> 
> My comment:
> No David! Please read my article, "Use first letter as ACCESSKEY" carefully:
> www.klapmusen.dk/artikel.aspx?xml=20021031&lg=en

I have.

> I have explained it already:

Not as far as I can tell.

> If you press the ALT key the focus is the browser. Then you can press the
> access key letter you want for the browser. Keeping the ALT key down when
> you press the accesskey letter does the same thing accept that the accesskey
> letters used in the web page overrules the access keys in the browser's
> menu.

That does not address the first issue, it only repeats the problem -
users must retain to learn not to hold down the alt key when they
press the menu access key.

That does not at all address the issue of users not being able to
select the contents of the address bar by pressing Alt+d.

> Not many people know this, so test it in an IE-browser. This means that
> access keys for the web page and for the browser can be the same without
> conflicts, if we learn the two ways of pressing the ALT-key.

Ditto.

> Please remember that no one is using the ACCESSKEY today except fanatics
> like me. 

No, but plenty of people use the keys to access the browser menus.

> The ACCESSKEY attribute is one of the great failures of the
> accessibility community: we need it so much and nobody is using it. "First
> letter as ACCESSKEY" could revolutionize accessibility on the Internet.

So could all browsers implementing Mozilla's Find As You Type (or lots
of users switching to Mozilla).

* http://www.mozilla.org/projects/ui/accessibility/typeaheadfind.html

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Received on Monday, 24 February 2003 16:08:24 UTC