Forward and Back buttons?

[AES]

For stepping forward and back through a multi-page HTML slide show or
seminar presentation, it's a _lot_ more convenient to use arrow keys, or
other keyboard shortcuts, rather than mouse clicks on buttons --
especially if the buttons appear at different places on the screen on
successive pages, so you have to keep repositioning as well as clicking
the pointer.

I take it there's no provision for accomplishing this using built-in
capabilities of plain standard "vanilla" HTML, without deploying more
complex Java or server-side tools? -- and more generally no way to
accept and process keyboard input for web site navigation using just
HTML alone?

(Not talking about forms and collecting data here -- just navigation.)

If so, too bad -- lots of unrelated computer applications seem to be
standardizing these days on a GUI "pseudo standard" in which Tab moves
the input point from input field to field on screen; CR or Enter accepts
or activates keyboard input into those fields.

In lots of applications the display also accepts and responds to the
Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys as well as the 4 arrow keys that
appear on a wide range of extended keyboards.

Would be nice if vanilla web sites could easily use those capabilities
also.

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

AES wrote:
[color=blue]
> Would be nice if vanilla web sites could easily use those
> capabilities also.[/color]

My browser seems to utilize all those keypresses now, on vanilla web
sites.

Alt-LeftArrow = Back
Alt-RightArrow = Forward
TabTabTab, press Enter for links ...

--
-bts
-This space intentionally left blank.

[Barbara de Zoete]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

On Sat, 14 May 2005 07:40:15 -0700, AES <siegman@stanfo rd.edu> wrote:
[color=blue]
> For stepping forward and back through a multi-page HTML slide show or
> seminar presentation, it's a _lot_ more convenient to use arrow keys, or
> other keyboard shortcuts, rather than mouse clicks on buttons --
> especially if the buttons appear at different places on the screen on
> successive pages, so you have to keep repositioning as well as clicking
> the pointer.
>
> I take it there's no provision for accomplishing this using built-in
> capabilities of plain standard "vanilla" HTML, without deploying more
> complex Java or server-side tools? -- and more generally no way to
> accept and process keyboard input for web site navigation using just
> HTML alone?
>[/color]

Google for proper use of the <link> element with the values 'next' and
'previous' for the attribute rel (together with the page related to it as
a value for the attribute href) in the head of a page. It makes use of the
Page up and down keys (in the browsers I know, for Win, IE6, Op7.54, FF)
to switch between one page and the next.

See also <http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#edef-LINK>

--
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`-------------------------------------------------- --<--@ ------------'

[Barbara de Zoete]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

On Sat, 14 May 2005 17:05:06 +0200, Barbara de Zoete
<b_de_zoete@hot mail.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Sat, 14 May 2005 07:40:15 -0700, AES <siegman@stanfo rd.edu> wrote:
>[color=green]
>> For stepping forward and back through a multi-page HTML slide show or
>> seminar presentation, it's a _lot_ more convenient to use arrow keys, or
>> other keyboard shortcuts, rather than mouse clicks on buttons --
>>[/color]
> Google for proper use of the <link> element with the values 'next' and
> 'previous' for the attribute rel (together with the page related to it
> as a value for the attribute href) in the head of a page. It makes use
> of the Page up and down keys (in the browsers I know, for Win, IE6,[/color]

two corrections (haven't used this for some time):
1. You would use the _spacebar_ to tap through a sequence of pages.
2. Ie doesn't work like this (what else is new).
[color=blue]
> Op7.54, FF) to switch between one page and the next.
>
> See also <http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/struct/links.html#edef-LINK>
>[/color]



--
,-- --<--@ -- PretLetters: 'woest wyf', met vele interesses: ----------.
| weblog | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/_private/weblog.html |
| webontwerp | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/webontwerp.html |
|zweefvliegen | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/vliegen.html |
`-------------------------------------------------- --<--@ ------------'

[Andy Dingley]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

On Sat, 14 May 2005 17:05:06 +0200, "Barbara de Zoete"
<b_de_zoete@hot mail.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Google for proper use of the <link> element with the values 'next' and
>'previous' for the attribute rel[/color]

If you're interested in this and your using FireFox, then investigate
the FireFox extensions (free downloadable snippets on the Moz site).
There are tools to make these <link> values visible on the browser's
status bar.

Of course this is a user issue, not a page author issue, but they're
worth having on-board.


--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

[AES]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

In article <siegman-088227.07401514 052005@news.sta nford.edu>,
AES <siegman@stanfo rd.edu> wrote:
[color=blue]
> For stepping forward and back through a multi-page HTML slide show or
> seminar presentation, it's a _lot_ more convenient to use arrow keys, or
> other keyboard shortcuts, rather than mouse clicks on buttons --
> especially if the buttons appear at different places on the screen on
> successive pages, so you have to keep repositioning as well as clicking
> the pointer.[/color]

Thanks for helpful replies on this.

Just struck me that there are also clickable "Previous" and "Next"
buttons in the header panel of MT-NewsWatcher message windows as well,
that take you to the previous or next message, whether in the same
thread or not, and whether as yet unread or not; and I haven't
identified the keys, if any, that correspond to those.

Space Bar provides the "Next" function, sort of, but if you back up
through a sequence of read msgs, then hit Space Bar, it takes you to
next _unread_ msg, not the next sequential (and previously read) msg in
the thread, or back to the list window.

[Steve Fulton]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

Barbara de Zoete wrote:
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Google for proper use of the <link> element with the values 'next' and
>> 'previous' for the attribute rel (together with the page related to it
>> as a value for the attribute href) in the head of a page. It makes use
>> of the Page up and down keys (in the browsers I know, for Win, IE6,[/color]
>
> two corrections (haven't used this for some time):
> 1. You would use the _spacebar_ to tap through a sequence of pages.
> 2. Ie doesn't work like this (what else is new).[/color]

<LINK> Navigation Bar <http://www.draig.de/LinkBar/index.en.html>

--
Steve

Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that
there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
-John Kenneth Galbraith

[AES]

Re: Forward and Back buttons?

In article <opsqrtispbx5vg ts@zoete_b>,
"Barbara de Zoete" <b_de_zoete@hot mail.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>
> Google for proper use of the <link> element with the values 'next' and
> 'previous' for the attribute rel (together with the page related to it as
> a value for the attribute href) in the head of a page. It makes use of the
> Page up and down keys (in the browsers I know, for Win, IE6, Op7.54, FF)
> to switch between one page and the next.
>[/color]

Thanks again for various replies on this. Two reactions (while fully
recognizing I'm not expert on these issues):

1) In thinking about user interfaces and their standardization , there's
clearly some conflict as to whether the "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys
which seem to be found and labelled as such on many expanded keyboards
these days ought to be used (a) to move up and down by one _screenful_
in long documents and/or web pages, or (b) to move to a previous or next
_full page_ in a multi-page document or on a web site.

Given the small sizes of laptop screens, their width > height aspect
ratio, and the natural occurrence of very long (multi-screen) documents
in many cases (e.g., Mathematica notebooks, as just one example), motion
by one screen seems to be a lot more useful and desirable as the default
choice, with motion by one full page perhaps the alternative when the
top or bottom end of a page is already on screen.

2) The "accesskey" attribute (along with related tab ordering concepts)
seems to be just the capability that my original post was looking for,
and I may try to get competent in using it.

It's interesting, however -- or maybe the word should be "unfortunat e"?
-- that this concept appears in the HTML spec primarily under the
discussion of Forms, even though this capability would seem to be
fundamentally useful in a much broader variety of web site navigation
applications, like slide shows and photo albums for example.

If I were just trying to learn enough HTML to put some useful material
up on the web (which is in fact what I'm trying to do), I'd probably
skip the "Forms" chapter in my "HTML for Novices" book -- and have to
post, as I did, to this NG to learn about accesskey.