Access Keys are shortcuts assigned to the links on a page to navigate quickly. Instead of scrolling through all the links, you can quickly go to the link you want by pressing a key on your key pad.

Lets see if your browser supports Access Keys. The link below has been assigned [1] as an access key.

[1] Access Key Test
Pressing [1] should take you to the bottom of this page.
Pressing [2] down there, should you bring you back here!

In some browsers just pressing the key activates the assigned link, in others, you have keep the key pressed for a second or two. In Internet Explorer you have to use [ALT] + [AccessKey] and even that just selects, or gives the focus to the link. You have to press [Enter] to activate the link.

Opera for Mobile versions prior to 8.5 had inbuilt shortcuts which interfered with access keys, but in new versions this has been fixed. For example, In Opera 8, by default:
Pressing [1] - opens new page dialog.
Pressing [2] - opens bookmarks
But the shortcuts will not work on this page, as this page has [1] and [2] defined as access keys!
In new versions of Opera internal shortcuts are set to Two Keys, so that you can use the Access Keys on web pages.
In version 8.65 pressing [#] followed by [2] opens bookmarks, and pressing only [2] will activate a link on this page.

WAP Masters, can implement access keys on their sites very easily. Its as simple as writing:

<a accesskey="1" href="linktarget.html">All About Honululu</a>

Now [1] is an access key to Honululu... Cool eh?

That is about it! I hope this little help page proves useful to somebody. Do drop me a line in the [3] guestbook. You know, reading your feedback only encourages me to do more for you.. and for free too !

Press [2] to go back up.