DevPapers - article Make your site more accessible using access keys

If you don't know what access keys are, they let users navigate your site using different keys on their keyboard. This is a vital accessibility feature, and benefits those users that have difficulty using a mouse. Access keys are an official W3C standard.

To implement access keys you define a specific key for each navigation link on your site. It's really very simple, for example the home page would be given the number 1, and would be defined in the page as follows:

<a href="index.html" accesskey="1">Home</a>

Using this method, each item in your menu can be given a specific access key. On Windows, the user would press ALT and the accesskey, and their browser would take them to the home page. On a Mac they would press Control and the access key. Some browsers require you to press the Enter key too.

Whilst there is currently no "standard" list of which keys to use, there are some that are most commonly used and recognised. It's a good idea to stick to these as it makes things easier for your visitors. These are also the standard for government websites, so they're widely used. Of course you don't have to use them all, but if any pages on your site fall under these descriptions then you should give them the relevant access key.

Access key S
Skip navigation

Access key 1
Home page

Access key 2
What's new

Access key 3
Site map

Access key 4
Site search

Access key 5
FAQ

Access key 6
Help

Access key 7
Complaints procedure

Access key 8
Terms & conditions

Access key 9
Feedback

Access key 0
Access key details

You'll notice the last option, access key 0 - access key details. It's recommended that you have a page on your site detailing which access keys you have used, otherwise your users won't know! You could also underline the relevant letter in each link, eg. Home could be Home. This lets your users see at a glance which keys are available.

You don't have to stop with those, you can define keys for every single navigation link on your site. For example, a Products page could be given the key P, a Links page could be L, and so on.

By integrating access keys into your site you make things easier for a vast number of people, and it's worth remembering that if people can't navigate your site, they won't stay!