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Re: Visible Skip Nav Link

for

From: Elle
Date: Feb 16, 2012 10:00AM


Everyone:

I really appreciate all the feedback. This redesign is an opportunity for
accessibility "in a perfect world" best practices to come to life, so I
didn't want to overlook a possible win if it really added something for
users. As I have many battles yet to face, I think I'll use this as a
chance to demonstrate how very reasonable I am.

Jared, I appreciate the code samples for further improving the experience.


Cheers,
Elle




On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> The arguments against a visible "skip" links are that most sighted
> users don't know what they do, they intrude significantly on visual
> design (by their nature, they have to be at the top of the page and
> visually apparent), and they provide very little utility for mouse
> users. There's little that can be done to overcome these arguments.
>
> The arguments against a hidden "skip" link are that sighted
> keyboard-only users may not know that it is there or they might
> quickly 'tab' past it. I think these can readily be overcome. I have a
> very simple demo that uses basic CSS3 transitions to animate the
> "skip" link into view when it receives keyboard focus. See
> http://webaim.org/temp/skipcss3.htm It is very visually apparent,
> difficult to miss even if you are navigating quickly, and could be
> styled to fit right into the visual design.
>
> In short, no, I don't think visible "skip" links are a battle worth
> fighting.
>
> Vincent's example where it pops into view when the mouse moves is very
> distracting and could render navigation of the page impossible for
> users with high distractability.
>
> Jared
>