WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Is source ordered content accessible?

for

From: steven
Date: Dec 13, 2010 10:36AM

Hi Richard,

It is certainly more accessible to place content at the very top of the page
if the user is accessing the content directly (ie; from a search engine
result or direct URL). But because browsers have no way to allow users to
navigate content yet without embedding the navigation into pages, it is
still common for users to expect navigation at the top of the page.

I personally look forward to the day that content and function is properly
separated, but I don't see that happening any time soon, though I would
place my bets on mobile Apps paving the way towards this happening.

Steven



-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Richard R. Hill
Sent: 13 December 2010 17:17
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Is source ordered content accessible?

There have been some discussion here on this topic in the past, but time
moves on and so do the interpretations of what is and is not accessible.

If I place my main content at the top of the (X)XHTML source code with
other elements appearing after and use CSS to visually place the elements
visually on a page, will this cause accessibility issues?

So, the source may look like:

Header
Main content
Sidebar content
Site navigation
Page navigation
Footer

And the visual page (three column layout):

Header
Site Navigation
Page Navigation:Main Content:Sidebar Content
Footer

My concern is that by convention, this may be jarring to folks using AT to
navigate the page. Visual page order and source code order don't match, so
potential issues exist when folks with different (or no) disabilities or
different browsers attempt to collaborate. Skip navigation link labels may
be confusing (Skip to Navigation rather than Skip to Content). May be forced
to define tab-order, since the default order when not necessarily make
sense. Plus, WCAG 2.0 section 1.3.2 seems to imply that its best to have
the visual layout match the code layout.

What's the current take on this?