CODEWITHSUNDEEP
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Alana Storm
Alana Storm

Reputation: 166066

Available Keyboard Shortcuts for Web Applications

I'm working on a web application and I'd like to add some keyboard shortcuts. Things like Ctrl-N, or Ctrl-Space. However, I do not want to use a keyboard shortcut that's already used by the browser.

For example, using the Ctrl-Space shortcut in Google Chrome on OS X is fine, but in Firefox on OS X it brings up a right-click menu in the browser.

Is there a known list of cross browser/OS keyboard shortcuts that are safe (or unsafe) to use for web applications?

Upvotes: 39

Views: 16083

Answers (2)

Raine Revere
Raine Revere

Reputation: 33637

  • There are no open shortcuts with Ctrl.
  • Alt or Option may be less familiar to users, but they are largely open.
  • If there is no input focus, you should use plain keys, e.g. a, s, d, etc.
  • There are only three open keyboard shortcuts using Ctrl + Shift. The number has slowly shrunk over time as browsers added more shortcuts.
// (Ctrl ≅ ⌘ on OSX)
Ctrl + Shift + L
Ctrl + Shift + U
Ctrl + Shift + Y

Thanks to Chrome's keyboard shortcut list, F. David McRitchie's Comparison Table, and contributions from @leonbloy, @KnowYourElements, @Dietmar, @jellyberg, and @stuart-gilbert in the comments.

Upvotes: 15

Dovydas Navickas
Dovydas Navickas

Reputation: 3591

If you need to know only standard browser keyboard shortcuts, they are listed here.

Separate browser's shortcuts lists:

And I find this comparison table ugly, but very useful.

Upvotes: 31

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