accesskey attribute in links

not working if frame doesn't have focus

[Purple Martin]

Hi everyone,

I've been asked to add some access keys (using the accesskey attribute) to the nav buttons in an existing site that's been dynamically built from a learning & content management system.

Sounds like a walk in the park, but the site has frames (yuk). The nav buttons are in the footer frame. Adding code to the content frame is not an option. Netscape 4 is not supported by this application so we can forget about it :)

The problem is that in Netscape 6 the access keys don't work if the footer frame doesn't have the focus.

It was easy to add onBlur="self.focus()" to the body tag to solve the problem in IE, but it just doesn't work in N6. I tried using the addEventListener method to catch keypresses in N6, but again it only works if the footer frame has the focus.

So what can I do? All suggestions greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!

[rewboss]

Explain the problem, and say, "...and this is yet another reason why we shouldn't use frames. This will mean redesigning the entire site, and I'll start work on it when I get your 50% deposit." :)

[Purple Martin]

lol, I wish that were possible! As the existing site has been built dynamically by an out-of-the-box application and has a very large number of content pages, rebuilding it by hand isn't practical (it would take weeks if not months). I agree with you that frames are bad, but the reality (in this case at least) is that frames are what I'm stuck with.

So the question still stands: How can I use access keys (or equivalent) in Netscape 6 in a framed site where frame focus is unpredictable?