Access Keys

Access keys are keyboard shortcuts defined in HTML using the accesskey attribute that allow users to activate or focus on specific elements — such as links or form controls — by pressing a key combination. Introduced as an accessibility feature to help keyboard-only users navigate websites more efficiently, access keys proved problematic in practice due to conflicts with browser and assistive technology keyboard shortcuts, lack of standardization across platforms, and the absence of a discoverable convention for which keys mapped to which functions. While WCAG 1.0 included providing keyboard shortcuts as a Priority 3 checkpoint, many accessibility experts later recommended against implementing access keys, and WCAG 2.0 moved away from prescribing this specific technique.