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Note about AccessKey

Using shortcuts when working with the computer is especially important for people with visual or motoric disabilities, as they may only be able to utilise the mouse to a limited degree. They are dependant on the keyboard or alternative input devices. Other users, however, who prefer working with the keyboard than with the mouse also profit from knowing how to use it properly.


The layout of the AccessKey-Pad can very in appearance. This is the 'original'. You can download the AccessKey Pad and implement it on your site withot restrictions.

As you may have accessed this page via another website, you may find that you cannot apply the following recommendations on other pages. It is for the respective content provider to integrate the recommendations onto their websites.

The following reference chart for shortcuts was revised in January 2006. We do not recommend referring to the table from December 2001 anymore.

It is important that this recommendation be used consistently across websites. Should the page that led you here use a different reference chart, you might wish to alert the provider of that page of the following recommendation.

AccessKey-Pad Recommendation
Shortcuts* Recommended function
Alt+0 Welcome page / Home
Alt+1 Help / Information about the website
Alt+2 Next page (if available, e.g. in form of a list of results consisting of many pages)
Alt+3 Previous page (if available, e.g. in form of a list of results consisting of many pages)
Alt+4 Glossary
Alt+5 No recommendation; to be issued by respective provider
Alt+6 Overview / Table of contents / Sitemap
Alt+7 Search function or extended search with search options
Alt+8 Quick navigation (if available) or overview of individual articles or documents
Alt+9 Contacts page

* In most browsers the access key is the Alt key.

Different browsers offer a different range of functions to call up links that are reserved by shortcuts. For instance:

  • Mozilla and Netscape browsers call up a link with a shortcut as soon as the key combination Alt with the respective key is pressed. This also counts for Firefox until 1.5. As of version 2 the keys Alt+Shift+[key] must be pressed
  • Internet Explorer focuses on a link after pressing the key combination Alt and the respective key. This results in the enter key needing to be pressed in order to call up the link.
  • Mac users will need to press Ctrl and the respective key.
  • • In Opera 7, links with shortcuts are brought up by pressing and releasing Shift+Esc and then pressing the reserved key.

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, after activating the shortcut buttons (e.g. Alt+0 for the welcome page), the Enter key may additionally need to be pressed in order for the link to show up. However, a JavaScript may be used, making this additional step unnecessary.

The Pad may not work in Firefox 2, because the shortcut keys Alt+Shift+[key] invokes the upper case value of the numeric keys. We provide content providers with a little helper.

If you are interested in the AccessKey-Pad, the following pages may be of interest to you:

More about [External link in german language]Accessible web design