Re: Accesskey and tabindex not helpful to blind users?

John Foliot - WATS.ca wrote:

>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:
>
>  
>
>So far, there have been none.
>
>JF
>--
>John Foliot  foliot@wats.ca
>
>  
>

And I'd just like to add my two cents worth here.  I agree with John and 
Derek..  Whilst I still see the value in most of the other things I've 
done to address accessibility in web sites I've worked on, I don't see 
these as producing the return of value for the time invested, and they 
have actually been mostly a waste of time.

The intention behind both is good and logical, and comes out of software 
design standards, but it really got lost and confused when implemented 
on the web.  It's unfortunate.

As both John and Derek have pointed out in the past, it's a well 
intended technology, but unfortunately the implementation holds too many 
problems, unless used very simply, and I have no issue with the "Just 
Say No" argument.   I try to take a ROI view of everything I do, and I 
hardly bother with these anymore, because I can't justify the ROI.  I 
can't willingly charge my clients to add these particular features to 
their sites (unless they ask for them), when I can't justify ROI.

Patrick, I do think there are users out there that would find accesskeys 
very useful, and do find a mouse hard to use.  I'm sure there are such 
users who operate the applications on their computer in this way.  I'm 
pretty sure I can find a few.  But you are right, you'll never find them 
surfing the web via that interface.  One is never going to be able to 
provide an equivalent level of functionality and usability through a web 
interface for this type of operation to satisfy users, at least up until 
the present.  It's hopelessly flawed.  And so, for everything that has 
been said above, I think it's sadly a waste of time/ROI.

Regards
---------
Geoff Deering

Received on Friday, 8 July 2005 20:48:02 UTC