Re: Thoughts on ACCESSKEY

In article <3.0.3.32.19970718042648.011b9c10@emf.net>,
"E. Stephen Mack" <estephen@emf.net> wrote:
> on screen.  How, then, should an author list the access
> key?  "To visit Yahoo, press ALT+Y on Windows or CMD+Y on
> Macintosh or simply follow the link if that doesn't work"
> is a little unwieldy.  (Maybe I don't know what is meant
> by "label text" here.)

This would be similar to "Press the shift key when clicking on
this link to download this file" - bad advice.
The method I'm used to is to underline the access key if it
occurs in the text, but that may conflict with the underline
under the entire link text. And as you point out, what if that
letter isn't in the text at all?

In any case, I would say that the problem of *showing* the access
key is something best left to the browser - they know the conventions
on the GUI/CLI they run on, and so the display can be consistent.

Another interesting problem: what if an access key conflicts with
a browser command? In Lynx, for example, the "Q" key quits the
browser. This is a bit of a problem if "Q" is an access key
somewhere.
(Control key? Could work, but then you mustn't use Control-D or -Z)

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Received on Friday, 18 July 1997 13:19:04 UTC