Solaris Common Desktop Environment: User's Guide

StickyKeys

Many people with disabilities have trouble holding down two keys at once, making combinations like Control-D or Shift-Mouse-Click difficult. When StickyKeys is turned on, modifier keys (generally, Shift, Alt, Control, and Meta) stay active while you type another key or click a mouse button.

Turning StickyKeys On and Off

There are three ways to turn StickyKeys off:

Latching and Locking

Sticky keys may be either latched or locked:


:WR

In this case, you would press Shift twice to lock it. Then you'd press the colon key and the letters w and r. To unlock Shift, press it again.

You can bring up a Status window to see which keys are latched or locked. (See Displaying the Status of Buttons and Keys.)

StickyKeys Settings

Getting a Beep Whenever a Modifier is Pressed

You can have your computer beep every time you press a modifier key (with StickyKeys on). Since pressing these keys latches, locks, or releases them, a beep can be a useful reminder that you've enabled or disabled a modifier. (It's easy to forget this in the course of normal typing.)

To enable this setting, check the “Sound when modifier pressed” check box in the Settings window. (See Figure E–4.)

Turning StickyKeys Off by Pressing Two Modifiers at Once

When you check this box (in the Settings window), you allow yourself to turn off StickyKeys by pressing two modifiers at once (such as Control and Shift). Some people find this easier than clicking with a mouse or pressing Shift five times.