Access Keys
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in section Keyboard Access of "Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" recommends to:
"Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls. [Priority 3]."
The "accesskey" attribute allows people to navigate to links or through forms using keyboard only. They are primarly aimed at people with motoric disabilities but they may be of much use to anyone using a keyboard instead of a mouse or other pointing device.
The following legend shows which keyboard shortcuts are implemented throughout the site. Each access key is assigned to an element, which is either a link or a form.
"0" - Access Keys Legend
"1" - Home
"2" - Skip Navigation
"3" - Site Map
"4" - Search
These access key assignments are based on Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM) standards as well as Canadian and UK government recommendations.
"S" - Skip Navigation
"A" - Accessibility Details
"H" - Home
"R" - Research
"P" - Publications
"F" - Forum
"W" - Weblog
"M" - Mail List
"L" - Links
"N" - Personnel
"G" - Gallery
"E" - Employment
"C" - Contact
"S" - Search
In all browsers supporting the "accesskey" attribute, you may jump directly a specific page or areas within that page by:
- holding down the ALT key and pressing the listed access key (Windows)
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape 6+ - holding down the CTRL key and pressing the listed access key (Macintosh)
Internet Explorer 5.2, Safari 1.2, Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape 6+
Only Opera has its own way of accessing the keyboard shortcuts by:
- holding down the SHIFT key, pressing ESC, releasing both buttons and pressing the listed access key (both Windows and Macintosh)
