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htmlaccess-keys

Can you use an accesskey attribute on an option tag?

Is there a technique to use an accesskey attribute on an <option> tag?

I know you can use it on a <select>, but I have a requirement to use it on an <option> within a <select>.

Example: I need to do something like this?

<select>
    <option>Blah</option>
    <option accesskey="5">5</option>
</select>

Thanks for your help.

Solution

  • Having an accesskey attribute on an <option> tag doesn’t validate as HTML4, but does as HTML5.

    I’ve made a test case on JSFiddle — accesskey 9 is assigned to the text field, whilst accesskey 2 is assigned to the second <option> in the <select>.

    Firefox 5 on the Mac doesn’t focus the <option> when you activate its accesskey (using CTRL+2 — see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_key#Access_in_different_browsers), but Chrome 12 does (CTRL+ALT+2).

    Theoretically, you could write some JavaScript to listen for this specific key combination and set the <select>’s selected option, but I’m not sure if that’s worth it, or a good idea — it might confuse users more than anything else.