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Re: evaluating accessibility with WCAG 2.0 (Angela French)

for

From: Keith (mteye)
Date: Apr 11, 2011 3:42PM

I'm assuming this is a document you coded yourself to play with? Possibly
you wrapped the first vertical bar in the tag. as in:

<a (stuff goes here) | </a>

To me the use of the vertical bar goes back to the days before graphic
technology was available. Remember making images by using ascii text
symbols, arranged in column and row placement to make an image of things. A
bicyclist, a car, a dog, a flower, etc. (oops, I should have put that list
in a ul tag, sorry.)

The technique of the horizontal links has real world similarity. Think of
file tabs on those manilla folders in a desk drawer, or the tabs on a
rolodex. The vertical bar harkens back to the ascii style of dividing one
choice from another, or as a representation of the gap between file tabs. It
is also helpful when such a choice of links contain more than a single word.
For example, if a simple web page has the options:

Home About Car Parts Service Support

Without any separation, or visual clues about the site areas, how many are
there? Six? Four? Maybe only three? A screen reader user will have the
advantage, since the software will separate the links, and you'll know what
the text is that's included in each link. The vertical bar then is
irrelevant. It's only there for the disadvantaged person with perfectly good
eyesight.

Of course, a vertical line can better, and more semantically be drawn with a
style sheet. It's invisible to the screen user, who it's irrelevant for, and
it appears to divid the links for the sighted person. Not to mention that
the style sheet can also tweak the color scheme, size, and certain other
dynamic actions as well.

from
Keith H