Access keys (i.e., keyboard shortcuts) can be defined for common
features. Something like the following:
- 1 - Homepage
- 2 - Search box
- E - Edit
- R - RecentChanges
- H - History
- P - Preferences
- D - Discussion
- S - Save the current page (when editing)
- C - Cancel the current edit
- V - Preview the current page
Then, for example, in Firefox one could press Alt+Shift+E to edit the
page.
For links, this is implemented as:
<a href="recentchanges/" accesskey="r">RecentChanges</a>
and for forms buttons:
<input type="submit" value="Submit" accesskey="s"/>
--[[JasonBlevins]], March 21, 2008 18:05 EDT
There are also a few thoughts about access keys on the
[[main_discussion_page|index/discussion]]. The main criticism there it
seems is that some browsers implement access keys in a way (via the Alt
key) that allows them to override built-in keyboard shortcuts. I
believe this is not a problem any longer in Firefox (which uses the
Shift+Alt prefix) but I suppose it could still be a problem in other
browsers.
Another criticism is that most browsers do not display the access keys
that are defined. The article cited on the main discussion page
suggests underlining the relevant mnemonic. I think it would be
sufficient to just list them in the basewiki documentation somewhere.
It's an unfortunate situation—I'd like an alternative to the
rodent but there are quite a few downsides to using access keys.
Tabbing isn't quite the same as a nice shortcut key. There's always
Conkeror...
--[[JasonBlevins]], March 22, 2008 10:35 EDT
