Re: Access Keys as a means to passing 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

On 15 October 2012 23:28, Charles McCathie Nevile <chaals@yandex-team.ru>wrote:

> On Mon, 15 Oct 2012, Harry Loots wrote:
>>>
>>>> Alt+ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, S and a few others are not bound to
>>>> any browser as far as I am aware?
>>>>
>>>
> There is no key that is unbound and cannot conflict.
>

Yes. I should have said 'used by' instead of 'bound to'

AT shortcut keys override HTML access keys.
>
>
> *may* - depends on the software :( In some cases IE won't let the
> accesskey override "important functions". But I believe not all normal
> functionality is considered important, and it is unclear what will happen
> in some cases :(


Where can one gain insight into when or what IE will/may override?


(Another thing to take into account with access keys is how you
>>> expose them to non-screen reader users. Frequently lists of
>>> access keys are published via text hidden from visual display but
>>> not from screen reader via CSS, and neither zoom nor
>>> keyboard-only users ever know the list exists.)
>>>
>>
>> By using the 'focus' event it is possible to expose shortcuts, etc to
>> keyboard users, while keeping them hidden from the >conventional visual
>> display.
>>
>
> Although by the time you get to the thing, you don't need an accesskey.
>

I had in mind a hidden link, similar to the skip link that pops up after
the first or second tab on many pages, thus:
e.g.: focus is in address bar; user clicks tab; jumps to search; clicks
tab; jumps to first interactive element in page content, in my case, two
hidden links:
  *¦*  *Skip to Content [Alt+S]*  *¦*  *Show me all short cut keys [Alt+0]*
*¦*
This toggles display on/off using scripting/CSS.

The obvious drawback of this is that the user (a) has to tab, (b) have to
see the links appear (meaning they are watching what appears onscreen,
which not all keyboard users will be able to do, so not every keyboard user
will benefit.)

A far better way is to expose all shortcut keys all of the time, but this
will create conflict with designers, and a whole army of
other protesters.... (It could also be achieved by underlining Shortcut
keys, but users would have to understand the convention being used).

The third option... A visible link that reads "Show/Hide Shortcut keys
[Alt+0]" and which toggles display of keys on/off as per the wishes of the
user, at the top of the page, and using Chaals' CSS below:



> There are extensions for other browsers to show the accesskeys - as the
> Wikipedia article [0] says, you only need a single line of CSS like
>
>  *[accesskey]:after {content: "[" attr("accesskey") "]"}
>
> to show the accesskey. So it's pretty sad browsers by and large still
> don't manage this.
>


This is the line of code used to toggle accesskeys on/off via a permanent
visible link that gives the user control.

Regards, Harry