I'd read a couple of blogs regarding the access keys, although opinion are spitted, I decided to implement access keys on my sites. While fixing my sites in different languages, I realized I cannot use the same access keys for both, say Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, and here a disturbing question emerges. We can only use 26 alphabet + 0 to 9 digit right?
No, unfortunately. In most Windows based browsers (well, all except for Opera) accesskeys are enabled via ALT. This conflicts with keyboard shortcuts for menu items, or even assistive technology such as JAWS. As different language versions use different shortcuts, it's safe to say that you shouldn't use any letters. This leaves the number keys (although apparently the latest versions of JAWS also use ALT + 1 for certain functionality).
In this case there are only 36 access keys we can use. How can one solves this dilemma if a site involve with more than 36 pages?
Accesskeys are meant to be shortcuts on your pages. Shortcuts are only effective if they can easily be memorised. It's disingenious to have a key for each one of your pages. Implement a minimal set of accesskeys for key pages (home, site help, search) or features (skip to content, submit form), nothing more.
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