Wanted to see if anyone has done some research on standard HTML access key. I have notices after doing some research many sites including Apple have incorporated the accesskey="s" on its search box. I find this extreamly usable if used properly and wanted to get input from the community.
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+1 And for an authoritative answer, see xkcd.com/927– msanfordCommented Apr 19, 2012 at 21:10
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3 Answers
I think the latest guidance is to not bother with them. They often compete with other navigation aids, JAWS for example. I believe people like the BBC in the UK have dropped access keys, and I recently helped build a central government UK site without these access keys.
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Yep. Too much conflict. For most situations there are better approaches to accessibility. Still potential to add skip to content links or similar where appropriate.– SheffCommented Apr 19, 2012 at 21:34
There's no list of accepted accesskey delegations. WebAIM say that both the UK and Canadian govermnents attempted it and they provide that list on their website. I notice "S" is used as "Skip navigation" there, not "Search" too. Wikipedia use "f" as their search accesskey.
In my state government there is also a standard, but that differs from the UK and Canadian model as well. I think the key is: if you are going to use accesskeys provide information on them for your users (usually a list in your accessibility statement). Hope that helps!
