Forums should expose accesskeys

[Daedalon]

Migrated, but modified from ​#wp23072.

The forums have various accesskeys available, but they aren't exposed in any way. Proposed in ​#wp23072 is adding information on accesskeys to the title tag. We agreed that wouldn't be ideal, but not sure what would be. We could use feedback from the a11y team.

[accessiblejoe]

Replying to Daedalon:

Migrated, but modified from ​#wp23072.

The forums have various accesskeys available, but they aren't exposed in any way. Proposed in ​#wp23072 is adding information on accesskeys to the title tag. We agreed that wouldn't be ideal, but not sure what would be. We could use feedback from the a11y team.

TL;DR = don't use accesskeys.

It is commonly thought that accesskeys conflict with screen reader functions, they do not, screen reader key combinations take precedence, negating accesskeys. WindowEyes disallows numerical accesskeys. There are conflicts with some user agents, IE implements them differently. Naturally. Opera requires an additional key combination, etc.

The more interesting question is how to inform the user that accesskeys are in effect. There is some benefit for users who need them but even if they've figured out they exist they still have to be savvy enough to invoke workaround key combinations, partially negating the benefit.

See also ​#wp24766 Title attributes galore. They serve no useful purpose.

[karlgroves]

+1 to AccessibleJoe's feedback above. AccessKeys and title attributes are of little-to-no actual benefit to users.

[Daedalon]

@Karlgroves:

I have a different experience. Accesskeys are massively useful. At WordPress.org forums they've saved me a ton of time and concentration. No more moving hands between keyboard and mouse and pointing the mouse at the correct item. There's a reason keyboard shortcuts exist in most every UI. WordPress.org forums are a UI some of us use very often.

However, if you mean accesskeys are not commonly used, I agree. Many people don't know they exist in the first place. There's a simple solution: let people know that they exist.

@Accessiblejoe:

Useful input, thanks! I'm not convinced of that TL;DR, though. I've used accesskeys on many sites on many browsers. There are millions of users using the same browsers and sites. The trouble has been that finding the accesskeys has required looking at the HTML. This leaves most users out of the benefits of accesskeys.

Title attributes are an excellent mouseover help that doesn't consume screen space. Making the title text vary between browsers sounds like a matter of a few if clauses, nothing to fret about. The default can be so that no title text is output, but if the browser is a recognized one, then the correct one is displayed. No one loses by this addition, but millions benefit.

What do you mean by workaround key combinations? In which case would one be needed?

[obenland]

@afercia Can I ask you your opinion on this?

[afercia]

@obenland speaking about the accesskey HTML attribute, e.g. accesskey="b" I can only repeat what people with more experience than me already pointed out in this ticket: little-to-no actual benefit. Additionally: conflicts with other browsers keys combination and in most of the cases they won't work when using a screen reader.

However, do the forums still use accesskey attributes? If so, could you please point me to a couple examples?

[karlgroves]

These days, ensuring that the UI has good, solid ARIA landmarks is probably a better approach anyway. accesskey, if used, is probably better suited for a web application rather than a forum.

[obenland]

Okay, then let's not do it. Thanks for your input everyone!

[netweb]

Thanks everyone, the forums now use bbPress 2.x and doesn't use any accesskey attributes

If there any ARIA or accessibility improvements lets add them to bbPress 2.x for everyone

Existing #a11y tickets ​https://bbpress.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=!closed&component=General+-+Accessibility

New tickets via ​https://bbpress.trac.wordpress.org/newticket