Pony request: accesskeys.

September 11, 2004 2:40 PM

Accesskeys? Maybe "r" for preview and "p" for post?
posted by nicwolff to Feature Requests at 2:40 PM (12 comments total)

If you hit the 'tab' key while typing in this here comment box it will land you right on the 'preview' button. Then just press enter and it's pressed.

It's a bit trickier now that I've hit preview. I have to press shift+tab. I realize that's another key, but still beats reaching over for the mouse
posted by Space Coyote at 3:10 PM on September 11, 2004

NO!

I am tired of shit hijacking my browser's keys. I hit alt-e to open the edit menu on UBB, for example, and I get stupid "Send as email" popup crap because somebody decided to get smart with the UBB javashit.

Puke!
posted by shepd at 8:15 PM on September 11, 2004

If you hit the 'tab' key while typing in this here comment box it will land you right on the 'preview' button. Then just press enter and it's pressed.

For me, on Safari, tab just goes from the message box to the location field to the Google field. Option-tab highlights links but not buttons.

I am tired of shit hijacking my browser's keys

The accesskeys override the command keys in your browser?! Shit, that's retarded - in Safari they are invoked with the "ctrl" key. Is yours a popular browser?
posted by nicwolff at 11:44 PM on September 11, 2004

Anything that makes it easier to post without thinking is probably a bad idea.
posted by fuzz at 2:32 AM on September 12, 2004

Every time I glance at this post I think for a brief moment it says "Asskeys?"

That is all.

Except, now that I think about it, we really could use asskeys.
posted by languagehat at 5:04 AM on September 12, 2004

posted by SpaceCadet at 7:31 AM on September 12, 2004

I am tired of shit hijacking my browser's keys.

Especially if it's just for people who are handicapped. What are they doing on the 'net anyway?
posted by yerfatma at 9:25 AM on September 12, 2004

Apologies in advance for the derail, but are 'accesskeys' really useful for the handicapped? I've used a couple of the most popular screen readers (window eyes and jaws) and if they are anything to go by then the way users of accessibility-aiding software use web pages is radically different to the way normal users do - to the extent that mapping keys to specific functions on specific pages isn't going to be something they even notice, much less find useful.. Insight, anyone?
posted by cell at 5:14 AM on September 13, 2004

languagehat, I always thought the one that says "insert" was the asskey - am I wrong?
posted by taz at 5:25 AM on September 13, 2004

Accesskeys become more useful the more standardized they become [like CSS and HTML and RSS actually]. So, there are a few accesskeys that are widely used and tend to mean the same thing on sites that use them:

Access key 1 - Home page
Access key 2 - Skip to main content (navbar skip link)
Access key 9 - Feedback

Accesskeys with numbers are going to be less likely to be user-programmed already, so they won't send shepd and others who have already programmed shortcuts into a dither. More on accesskeys from Mark Pilgrim.
posted by jessamyn at 8:21 AM on September 13, 2004

Oh! I thought people wanted a picture of Arthur Askey.
posted by SpaceCadet at 2:36 PM on September 13, 2004

Intercourse the handicapped, I just don't want to have to mouse to the "Preview" button.
posted by nicwolff at 10:17 PM on September 13, 2004