Available Keyboard Shortcuts for Web Applications

Question

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?

Answer 1

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

Separate browser's shortcuts lists:

• Internet Explorer's shortcuts can be found here.

• Firefox's here. (scroll down a bit)

• Google Chrome's here.

• Safari's official source here, but a better one is here.

• Opera's here.

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

Answer 2

If there is no input focus, you should use plain keys, e.g. a, s, d, etc.

Otherwise, here is a list of open keyboard shortcuts (at time of writing) mostly derived from Chrome (OSX), with a few additional eliminations made from F. David McRitchie's Comparison Table and @leonbloy.

This list does not consider Alt/Option since they are less familiar and often less ergonomic for users, but most of them are open.

As a cross-browser list is effectively a logical AND of browser-specific lists, the below list actually narrows down the search quite a bit.

// (Ctrl ≅ ⌘ on OSX) Ctrl + B Ctrl + I Ctrl + U Ctrl + Shift + F Ctrl + Shift + L Ctrl + Shift + O Ctrl + Shift + S Ctrl + Shift + U Ctrl + Shift + Y 

Please comment if any of these are not available on Windows or other browsers, and I will edit the list accordingly so it is most useful.