[WEB4LIB] Surfing the Net for Handicapped

[Thomas Dowling]

It isn't just the people who are unable to use a mouse who sometimes like
to keep their hands on the keyboard.  :-)

Netscape, along with most current browsers, is quite capable of traversing
the links in a page with the Tab and Enter keys.  Similarly, it can move
through client-side image maps and forms, although I note that my copy of
4.5b2 skips over <INPUT TYPE=IMAGE>.  Sigh.

HTML 4.0 offers a couple of ways for authors to facilitate keyboard
navigation, but they aren't widely supported by browsers yet.  The
accesskey attribute available to many elements is intended to create
keyboard shortcuts.  AFAIK, this is only supported in MSIE4+, and it's a
somewhat problematic implementation.  Anchors and form inputs can also
establish tab orders to control where the tab key goes to next. I believe
this is also only supported in MSIE4+.

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu




> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib at webjunction.org]On Behalf Of Lida Pinkham
> Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 1998 12:09 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: [WEB4LIB] Surfing the Net for Handicapped
>
>
> How would someone who was not able to use a mouse surf the internet?
>
> In Netscape you can use Ctrl+L and then type in an address, but
> what if they want to activate a link on the page.
>
> Has anyone dealt with this before?  Is there a special browser,
> plug-in or something that would allow a patron to surf the
> internet using a keyboard?
>
> Lida Pinkham
> Training Resource Coordinator
> Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg
> 704-353-0631
> lpinkham at plcmc.lib.nc.us
> http://www.plcmc.lib.nc.us
>
> "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to
> keep in the same place.  If you want to get somwhere else, you
> must run at least twice as fast."
> ~Lewis Carrol, Through the Looking Glass
>