Access keys and accessibility functionality in Scope's website
The accessibility of our site is continually under review and work is in progress to improve accessibility.
Scope access keys
| S | skip navigation |
|---|---|
| 1 | home page |
| 2 | news page |
| 3 | site map |
| 4 | to the search facility on the site |
| 5 | frequently asked questions (F A Qs) |
| 6 | help page/facility |
| 7 | complaints procedure |
| 8 | terms and conditions (including privacy statement) |
| 9 | feedback page |
| 0 | the menu page of accesskeys detailing the accesskeys are being used within the website and the information or services they link to. |
As of writing there is no W3C recommended assignation of accesskeys. However there is a consensus emerging of sites that assign accesskeys to numbers (as above) See The Guidelines for UK Government websites.
Why access keys?
In the W3C note 'Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0', section Keyboard access, the need for access keys is motivated as follows:
"Not every user has a graphic environment with a mouse or other pointing device. Some users rely on keyboard, alternative keyboard or voice input to navigate links, activate form controls, etc. Content developers should always ensure that users may interact with a page with devices other than a pointing device. A page designed for keyboard access (in addition to mouse access) will generally be accessible to users with other input devices. What's more, designing a page for keyboard access will usually improve its overall design as well."
This can be crucial to people with motor disabilities. Of course there are other conditions where it could be necessary or useful. To take a trivial example, if your mouse is temporarily broken, you might still wish to do some Web surfing. And in technologies which differ from 'normal' PCs or terminals, such as WebTV, laptops, and handheld devices, a pointing device or function - if available at all - can be significantly more difficult to use for exact pointing than a good mouse.
Text adapted from http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/accesskey.html with thanks.
How access keys work
Pressing an access key assigned to an element gives focus to the element. The action that occurs when an element receives focus depends on the element. For example, when a user activates a link defined by the A element, the user agent generally follows the link. When a user activates a radio button, the user agent changes the value of the radio button. When the user activates a text field, it allows input, etc.
Note, accesskeys are OS sensitive :
For example, testing on Netscape 6.1, Opera 6.0, and IE 5.5, all on Windows 98, I noticed confusing differences as regards to an access key for a submit button:
- Opera doesn't support access keys
- IE focuses on a link when an access key is used but does not follow the link (hitting ''Enter'' is needed), and it submits a form if an access key for the submit button is used
- Netscape follows a link when an access key is used.
Using access keys
This section details how accesskeys are implemented in various Web browsers and operating systems. The table and text is adapted from www.hclrss.demon.co.uk/accessibility.html with thanks.
| Operating system | Browser | How to use access keys |
|---|---|---|
| Windows XP | I.E. 6 | Alt+AccessKey to put focus on the link (not visible), then Enter to activate |
| Windows 98 | I.E. 6 | Alt+AccessKey to put focus on the link (visible), then Enter to activate |
| Windows 95 | I.E. 5.5 I.E. 5 I.E. 4 |
Alt+AccessKey to put focus on the link (visible), then Enter to activate |
| Mozilla | Alt+AccessKey | |
| Netscape 6 Netscape 7 |
Alt+AccessKey | |
| Mac OS 9 | I.E. 5.1 I.E. 5 |
Control+AccessKey (some systems need Control+Command+AccessKey) |
| iCab 2.8 | AccessKey (sometimes need to click on page first) | |
| Netscape 6 Netscape 7 |
Control+AccessKey | |
| Mac OS X 10 | I.E. 5.1 | Control+AccessKey |
| iCab 2.8 | AccessKey (sometimes need to click on page first) | |
| Netscape 6 Netscape 7 |
Control+AccessKey |
Under Windows, access keys are not supported by Netscape 4 and Opera 6.
Under Mac OS 9, access keys are not supported by Internet Explorer 4, Internet Explorer 4.5, Mozilla, Netscape 4 and Opera 5.
Under Mac OS X 10, access keys are not supported by Mozilla and OmniWeb 4.
'Link rel' as an additional navigational aid
All pages have rel=home, contents, search, help, copyright and author links to aid navigation in text-only browsers. Netscape 6 and Mozilla users can also take advantage of this feature by selecting the View menu, Show/Hide, Site Navigation Bar, Show Only As Needed (or Show Always).
Text only functionality and Betsie
Scope now uses the Betsie BBC parser to enable users to customise appearance of the website to a form that is most accessible to them.
If you're not blind, you may never have heard of a screen reader. Screen readers are bits of software that blind people use instead of a monitor to get their computers to talk to them. Before Betsie, users of screen readers visiting the Scope site had to struggle with whatever sense their software could make of the columns that almost each and every page on the whole site had been divided up into. The old buggy software that powered the previous display settings has therefore been replaced.
Now by clicking on the text-only link on every page header you can just ask Betsie for the page you want, any page at all in the Scope site, and the script will give it to you in a form that your machine will be able to make sense of. More information is available on the Betsie website