XHTML Access Module, Third Last Call Draft

Contents

XHTML Access Module, Third Last Call Draft
1. References
2. Problem Statement
  1. Discoverability of Remapped Access Key Bindings

References

Latest Editor's Draft of the XHTML Access Module (2008-08-20)
- the access element
  - activate = (yes | no) (default is "no")
  - key = Character
  - media = MediaDesc
  - order = ( document | list} (default is "document")
  - targetid = IDREFs
  - targetrole = CURIEs
- Conformance Requirements for the Access Module

Problem Statement

The XHTML Access Module is undergoing revisions to its third -- and hopefully, final -- Last Call draft, but before the XHTML2 WG publishes the Access Module as a Last Call document, there are still a few lingering questions upon which the XHTML2 WG would appreciate the UAWG's input.

Discoverability of Remapped Access Key Bindings

If a user, for example, of a phone interface only has numeric numbers available to her, how are individual alphabetic characters to be accessed? What if the author-defined character used as the "key" isn't capable of being generated by the user's available "keyboard"? Even though an "access key" is defined as: An access key is a single character from the document character set, what if that particular character set is not available, that particular character is only available through an obscure key-code sequence, or if the user's UA is using an approximation of (or substitution for) the character set defined for the document? Moreover, how is the remapped key-binding to be communicated to the user, if the remapped key does not appear in the textual label programmatically associated with the element for which the access key has been assigned, how should the user be alerted -- or, in the case of persistent site-specific settings -- reminded of the re-mapped key binding?