In a

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

, an access key or accesskey allows a

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

user Ancient Egyptian roles * User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty * Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User" Other uses * User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...

to immediately jump to a specific web page via the

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

. They were introduced in 1999 and quickly achieved near-universal browser support. In the summer of 2002, a Canadian Web Accessibility consultancy did an informal survey to see if implementing accesskeys caused issues for users of

adaptive technology Assistive technology (AT) is a term for assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and the elderly. Disabled people often have difficulty performing activities of daily living (ADLs) independently, or even with ...

, especially screen reading technology used by blind and low vision users. These users require numerous keyboard shortcuts to access web pages, as “pointing and clicking” a mouse is not an option for them. Their research showed that most key stroke combinations did in fact present a conflict for one or more of these technologies, and their final recommendation was to avoid using accesskeys altogether. In XHTML 2, a revised web authoring language, the HTML Working Group of the

World Wide Web Consortium The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 and led by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working to ...

deprecated the accesskey attribute in favor of th
XHTML Role Access Module
However, XHTML 2 has been retired in favor of HTML5, which (as of August 2009) continues to permit accesskeys.

Access in different browsers

For a more complete list of which browsers support the HTML Access keys, please see how they are compared in the comparison of web browsers.

Conflicting access keys

If multiple identical accesskeys are assigned within the same document, IE will tab through them on each keypress (IE will tab backwards if is pressed as well). This way, elements can be logically grouped in various accesskey rings for easier navigation. IE 4.0 only supported letters of the English alphabet as accesskeys. Firefox 2.0 will activate the last of a group of elements assigned the same accesskey.

Specifying access keys

Access keys are specified in HTML using the accesskey attribute. The value of an element’s accesskey attribute is the key the user will press (typically in combination with one or more other keys, as defined by the browser) in order to activate or focus that element. Though the accesskey attribute sets the key that can be pressed, it does not automatically notify the user of the bound access key. One convention is for the page author to show the access key value by using the <u> tag to underline the letter in the link’s text corresponding to the accesskey assigned. For the link below, a user would press + on Internet Explorer, + on a Mac (the command key can give undesired results) and ++ on Opera to be directed to index.html. Home or to emphasize ‹H›: Home alternatively, the following CSS can be used to indicate the character: * ccesskeyafter Emphasize <em> isn’t necessary, but can be useful to the user. It helps them identify which key to press to navigate to where they want to. Another possible way of displaying which accesskeys do what is to create a page with all the accesskeys displayed. Or the webmaster could do both. Another option for the end user is to install a user script such as FireFox ''Access Bar'' for GreaseMonkey.

Use of standard access key mappings

In 2004, a standard emerged using numbers, which promotes consistency for users, and enables the increased predictability of keyboard shortcuts on different sites. These include, for example, 1 to go to the homepage, 0 for search, / for contact, and others.. Ten years later, in 2014, an updated and more comprehensive standard using both letters and numbers was released in order to breathe new life into browser access key standardization efforts.

References

External links

A bug report for the MediaWiki software regarding conflicts with Accesskeys
– includes lengthy discussion of various problems on different platforms
A CSS stylesheet to make access keys on a website visible

ACCESS + KEY = Accesskey (XHTML Role Access Module still flawed)

Accesskeys and Reserved Keystroke Combinations

Changes to Accesskeys in Firefox 2.0

Ui.key.contentAccess
– instructions on configuring access key behavior in

Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and a ...