- From: Jukka K. Korpela <jkorpela@cs.tut.fi>
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 11:08:35 +0200 (EET)
- To: hhn 004 <hhn_004@hotmail.com>
- Cc: www-validator@w3.org
On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, hhn 004 wrote:
> Checklink overrides browser default alt+d keyboard shortcut on win32
"Access keys" are considered harmful to accessibility, according to a
large number of accessibility specialists. They are often added onto pages
to satisfy "accessibility rules" and as a matter of principle, but that's
a wrong principle.
As a workaround at the user level, you can press first the Alt key, then
the "d" key to activate the built-in shortcut. But most people don't know
this, so at the page level, the problem remains.
> This is the same keyboard shortcut that my
> browser uses to access the address bar.
That's one of the key problems. And there is no "safe" set of characters
to be used for accesskeys, since the built-in key assignments depend on
the browser, its language version, and possibly other software such as a
screen reader.
> Also, there is no indication or hint that keyboard shortcuts can be used on
> this page.
That's another key problem. And there is no good solution. Any method of
indicating the accesskey assignments that is clear enough to be noticed
and understood is disturbing and distracts from the real content and
functionality ("never mention the mechanics") and will appear in many
situations where the information is patently wrong, i.e. tells about
shortcuts that don't actually work.
--
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Received on Tuesday, 25 January 2005 09:09:09 UTC