Access keys: Friend or foe?
Web standards have (or are) transforming the web and the way we interact with it and its content. They are good and to be aspired to and understood, but what if in practical terms, some just aren’t working?
I’ve been questioning the use of access keys for a while, all our sites including those that have been tested with positive results by AbilityNet use them. The characters used are a mash of the government standard keys (1 through to 0) and obvious choices for the skip links (N = skip to navigation, S = skip to content).
How on earth can I say for sure that these don’t collide with existing browser and assistive technologies use of keyboard shortcuts? It seemed to me skip links and tabbing does work, they are practical and unobstrusive.
With a quick search I found various opinions and guidance on the subject of which widely agreed.
A good example is an article by Nomensa’s Alastair Campbell, What are Access Keys? (Note the date).
Although access keys are intended to improve site navigation, it is shown they actually can interfere with web accessibility. In terms of implementing a common standard, it would require a universal understanding of access keys to be applied to every site. Joe Clark, an accepted expert on accessibility, says access keys are: “severely compromised in practical application…” he continues to add, “If you add access keys, then, you are really coding for a future utopia”.
So do I stop implementing access keys on our Government and commercial websites?