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Re: "Skip to content" links, vissibility and keyboard users without screen readers, to hide or not to hide?

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From: Jared Smith
Date: Sep 15, 2011 1:39PM

There isn't really a 'right' answer regarding the presentation of
'skip' links. Because such links provide very limited utility to
non-keyboard users, intrude quite significantly on the visual design
(they must be at the top of and one of the first links on the page),
and can be a confusing to most users, I have little concern over
hiding them off-screen, so long as they become visible (and optimally
very apparently so) when they receive keyboard focus. They become less
necessary for many users if headings, ARIA landmarks, etc. are also
utilized.

On a recent project, I implemented a 'hidden' skip link, but used CSS3
transitions to make the link appear quite prominently when it received
focus, and then would fade out slowly after focus was lost. This made
it so that users who 'tab' quickly through the page could see the
"skip" link for more than just a fraction of a second.

So long as the assistive technology (head wand, eye tracking, voice
control, etc.) provide or emulate the standard browser 'tab'
functionality, there are no additional concerns. Such technologies
often allow users to navigate directly to page areas, so the absence
of the "skip" link doesn't really matter in this case.

The issues regarding IE and the hasLayout bug have *mostly* been
addressed in more modern versions. There are still some bugs that can
render in-page links useless to keyboard users. Testing is necessary.
Additionally, in-page links still don't change keyboard focus in
Safari or Chrome (as such, it's quite unlikely keyboard-only users
would be using these browsers).

Jared