Access keys are a way of defining keyboard shortcuts which, in theory, allow users to jump to, for example, the Search item on the web site navigation menu by selecting ALT+s. Depending on the browser being used, the user may then have to press ENTER to activate the link. The designer can define which keys, in conjunction with ALT (or CTRL on a Mac) relate to which links by means of the accesskey attribute.
However, there are problems associated with defining accesskeys on a site as they can over-ride pre-existing keyboard shortcuts in the user’s software.
Accesskeys: Where Are We Now?: continue reading …
Published: November 3rd 2006
Tabindexing allows a designer to specify the order in which links or controls receive focus on a page when using the TAB key to move around.
For example:
<ul>
<li><a href="one.html" tabindex="1">Item 1</a></li>
<li><a href="two.html" tabindex="2">Item 2</a></li>
</ul>
Elements on a page that do not have an associated tabindex will have a ‘natural’ ordering (ie they will follow the order that they appear in the markup). If you mix the two, the elements with a specified tabindex will come first, in their specified order, followed by unindexed elements in their natural (markup) order.
Tabindex At Your Peril: continue reading …
Published: November 3rd 2006
I’ve just been reading a post on the Web Standards Group from Steve Green of Test Partners.
He mentioned that his testing group had come across a site that had no fewer that six ’skip to’ links such as ’skip to main navigation’, ’skip to sub navigation’, ’skip to main content’ etc. The end result was so verbose that he felt that the site really needed a ’skip past all these skip links’ link!
Multiple Skip Links: continue reading …
Published: November 3rd 2006
In the second article of the series on accessites.org, I’ve returned to the issue of color contrast. As you might have gathered, it’s a hot topic of mine. Primarily because it’s an area that I believe WCAG has completely overlooked but also because I think it’s an issue that can be remedied relatively easily.
However, I’m aware that, whenever you reduce a barrier for one group, there’s always the possibility that you have inadvertently created one for another group with opposing needs.
Designing For Dyslexics: Part 2: continue reading …
Published: November 1st 2006
