Removal of access keys

Despite being very useful in principle, access keys are problematic:

• They are very likely to conflict with existing browser functionality, especially with regards to assistive technologies
• They are not standard (despite government guidelines), so users don't really know what keys are available and have to take the time to find out (which most users won't do)

For these reasons, we have decided not to use access keys when we develop websites and we believe that other developers should follow suit.

Access keys should not be dismissed altogether. There will be many cases where access keys should be used. However, access keys should only be used if there is a strong case for using them rather than being used by default.

For further information and articles on this subject, see Using Accesskeys - Is it worth it? and Accesskey problems remain in XHTML 2.