Correct keyboard shortcut for a web application

Question

I am documenting the keyboard shortcuts for our web application. Please share if these are not the right keys to use, for any reason, such as interference with browser's own keyboard shortcuts/ OS shortcuts or general usability's sake.

The shortcut initiator will be SPACE , similar to how some Gmail shortcuts use '*' as initiator. The list of shortcuts is rather big, but here are a few of the key ones:

Functionality - shortcut

• SAVE - SPACE + S
• Undo - SPACE + Z
• Redo - SPACE + Y

Our web application is a one page, without scroll, JavaScript application. We are considering John Resig's Hotkeys , Mousetrap , and jKey for the plugin. Any thoughts, warnings would be much appreciated on the use of the above keyboard shortcuts.

Answer 1

Hotkeys is a robust JavaScript library for capturing keyboard input and key combinations entered. It has no dependencies.

hotkeys('escape+a,escape+b,escape+z', function(event,handler){
    switch(handler.key){
        case "escape+s":alert('you pressed escape+s!');break;
        case "escape+z":alert('you pressed escape+z!');break;
        case "escape+y":alert('you pressed escape+y!');break;
    }
});

Hotkeys understands the modifiers ⇧ , shift , option , ⌥ , alt , ctrl , control , command , and ⌘ .

The following special keys can be used for shortcuts: backspace , tab , clear , enter , return , esc , escape , space , up , down , left , right , home , end , pageup , pagedown , del , delete and f1 through f19 .