Gene,

Universal Apps, of which the Mail App is one, use ribbons that are of "universal app" configuration, which is not the same as the ribbons we're familiar with in all the old-school installed apps.  In old-school installed apps (now called desktop apps) ALT + a letter throws focus into a specific ribbon.  That doesn't happen in the Mail App, though ALT (as well as F6) throws focus to the main ribbon where you can left/right arrow to the one of your choosing and down-arrow into it.

That same technique can be used in conventional ribbons, too, where you can think of the ribbon specifier much as you do a tab in multi-tab dialogs.  But the difference in conventional ribbons is that the "+ letter" throws focus directly into a specific ribbon, which you do have to down arrow or tab into if you wish to start traversing the first control to the last control, but you also have the option of hitting "next letter for control" to activate that control.

But for things like the individual controls (e.g., Bold formatting in the Format universal ribbon of the Mail App) the typical direct keyboard toggle, CTRL + B, still works.

I still dislike most of the universal apps, not so much because of the differences in accessibility techniques, but because they are, by and large, not as full-featured as their earlier brethern.  I despise the Windows 10/11 Mail App.
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 19045

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

    ~ H.L. Mencken, AKA The Sage of Baltimore

I don't like that app either.

I hadn't used apps enough to run across ribbons in them and I found them
while I was checking something else.

Its interesting how they are similar and a little different.

Gene

On 1/1/2023 7:19 PM, Brian Vogel wrote:

Gene,

Universal Apps, of which the Mail App is one, use ribbons that are of
"universal app" configuration, which is not the same as the ribbons
we're familiar with in all the old-school installed apps. In
old-school installed apps (now called desktop apps) ALT + a letter
throws focus into a specific ribbon. That doesn't happen in the Mail
App, though ALT (as well as F6) throws focus to the main ribbon where
you can left/right arrow to the one of your choosing and down-arrow
into it.

That same technique can be used in conventional ribbons, too, where
you can think of the ribbon specifier much as you do a tab in
multi-tab dialogs. But the difference in conventional ribbons is that
the "+ letter" throws focus directly into a specific ribbon, which you
do have to down arrow or tab into if you wish to start traversing the
first control to the last control, but you also have the option of
hitting "next letter for control" to activate that control.

But for things like the individual controls (e.g., Bold formatting in
the Format universal ribbon of the Mail App) the typical direct
keyboard toggle, CTRL + B, still works.

I still dislike most of the universal apps, not so much because of the
differences in accessibility techniques, but because they are, by and
large, not as full-featured as their earlier brethern. I despise the
Windows 10/11 Mail App.
--

Brian -Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 22H2, Build 19045

*/Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy./*

~ H.L. Mencken, AKA /The Sage of Baltimore/