- From: John Foliot - WATS.ca <foliot@wats.ca>
- Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2005 14:16:36 -0400
- To: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
- Cc: <bkdelong@pobox.com>
Patrick H. Lauke wrote: > B.K. DeLong wrote: >> I see >> accesskey and tabindex being very useful for those who cannot >> manipulate a pointing device as well as those who are blind however >> in light of Rich's comments, I'm not quite sure where to go from >> here and I'd like to solicit the list's comments. > > > As for accesskeys, I tend to side with John/Derek's view, although > granted in some instances it can make sense to have them (depending on > audience, purpose, etc). If anything, I'd go with a minimal > set of keys. And here comes John's/Derek's response... Accesskeys? Don't! For all the reasons why not, please see: Using Accesskeys - Is it worth it?: http://www.wats.ca/articles/accesskeys/19 More reasons why we don't use accesskeys: http://www.wats.ca/articles/accesskeyconflicts/37 Accesskeys and Reserved Keystroke Combinations: http://www.wats.ca/resources/accesskeysandkeystrokes/38 Link Relationships as an Alternative to Accesskeys: http://www.wats.ca/articles/accesskeyalternatives/52 The Future of Accesskeys: http://www.wats.ca/articles/thefutureofaccesskeys/66 Bottom line - accesskeys are flawed and potentially create more issues than they resolve. It is for this reason (I believe) that the W3C is deprecating the accesskey attribute in XHTML 2. I currently have a challenge out there on another accessibility list (GAWDS - www.gawds.org) regarding accesskeys: > And so I issue the challenge. Show me *one* user, who honestly and > truthfully seeks out accesskeys in their day-to-day web surfing > usage. Show me *one* person who somehow is denied or > disadvantaged by the lack of accesskeys on any given web site; > proving that accesskeys *do* benefit that > person. > > If that person can be found, and can show to me that what I preach > (or scream or moan or simply rant about - depending on your > perspective) is really wrong I will shut up, go away, and never > bring this up again. > > Any takers? So far, there have been none. JF -- John Foliot foliot@wats.ca Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca Web Accessibility Testing and Services http://www.wats.ca Phone: 1-613-482-7053
Received on Friday, 8 July 2005 18:16:48 UTC