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Re: headings for links list

for

From: Angela French
Date: May 17, 2011 1:21PM

Thank you JF for your contribution. I do want to clarify, in case it makes any difference, that I am not referring to a navigation list; navigation list being defined as a list of links to other web pages/sites. I am referring to a list of links to PDFs, Word, Excel, etc.

Angela




Hi Angela,

THE GOAL:
The goal is to convey to the non-sighted user that a collection of links, usually an unordered list, is in fact a navigation menu.


<div role="navigation">
<ul>
<li>Home</li>
<li>Menu item</li>
</ul>
</div>

...instead of *HAVING* to do this:

<div>
<h2 style="position:absolute; left:-999px; top:-999px;">Navigation Menu</h2>
<ul>
<li>Home</li>
<li>Menu item</li>
</ul>
</div>

********

3) Moving forward (and I would caution a bit of restraint as what I am going to suggest does not have widespread support yet, but it's coming)...
anyway, moving forward, HTML5, realizing the importance of providing concise and unambiguous "landmark" roles (which is what the solution above
is) are introducing a new series of landmark elements, including <nav>, so that in the near future we will be able to do something like this:

<nav>
<ul>
<li>Home</li>
<li>Menu item</li>
</ul>
</nav>

...and once again the important information (that the list is for
navigation) will be mapped to the Accessibility API, and passed on through to the user and their AT. However, not all of the current browsers are parsing <nav> as a discrete element today, and so it's a bit early to use <nav> alone. However, if you want to think about moving towards HTML5 in your development, you can use a "belt and suspenders" approach and write:

<nav role="navigation">
<ul>
<li>Home</li>
<li>Menu item</li>
</ul>
</nav>


CONCLUSION:
Informing non-sighted users (screen reader users) that a particular list of links is intended to be a navigation list (as opposed to, say, a list of recommended reading titles) is an important goal to meeting POUR.
Insisting that such a list be preceded by an <h2> is simply a reactionary, 'tickbox' solution that doesn't really think about the problem, but rather just seeks to reach some form of "Bobby icon" status with no thought on the part of the author. If that kind of mandate is what you require in your environment, then you are of course free to adopt it, but as Patrick Lauke noted earlier, it is a "made-up" rule, and not something that you will see attached to WCAG 2.

Hope this helps.

JF