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Re: Best way to set up links to documents

for

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Oct 6, 2008 11:40AM

Thanks, Mike! Most of our forms are available through a search function (probably completely inaccessible, but we're working on a replacement), and I'm working on adding pages that list all forms for a specific program (usually five or 10; sometimes up to several dozen). I'll see if I can get our developers to adopt the two-list model.

We also have a lot of pages that tell how to do something and link to one, two, or several forms needed to get that "something" done. Are there any good solutions for links that will occur within the narrative of the page and must point to more than one format?

(Why more than one format? Even when electronic submission is possible, we are required to get a paper copy. Ideally, all our forms would be in html with a print CSS option, but that's a long way off. Until something changes, our customers are all over the map with respect to the format they prefer and their reasons for that preference. We do our best to help them comply with the rules.)

Cliff Tyllick

>>> "Moore, Michael" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 10/6/2008 8:27 AM >>>
Keith and Cliff

We use icons with alt text to display links to all of the forms in our
forms catalog. This is still cumbersome though. The full catalog
displays over 400 forms which means 1200 total links in a links list
(Word, PDF, and Instructions for each form). We have smaller lists by
agency division as well, but the lists are still very long.

We also have a search feature to aid in discovering the form. We have
not received any negative feedback from users about the need to add the
word download to the icon link. It seems intuitive enough for the users
since the pages are part of a forms catalog.

The title attribute is not a reliable way to convey the information.
Even when configured to read the title screen readers (JAWS versions) do
not always read the title on links, form fields, or images.

I like some of the other proposed methods such as creating separate
lists with only one format available per list.

Mike Moore