WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: wai-aria presentation roles vs skip links

for

From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Nov 15, 2012 7:47AM


What about using the much maligned hotkey attribute for sighted
keyboard only users to facilitate skip links (or replace them)?
say alt-3 to get to main content of a page.
(screen readers generally leave the number keys alone when it comes to
naweb navigation).

Do browsers show hotkey attributes at all visually (I know screen
readers announce them).
I know they are not recommended practice any more in most cases, but I
still do believe they may have a place in certain situations, just
curious if this might be one such, but only if they are vissible in
browsers by default.


On 11/15/12, Jared Smith < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 7:06 AM, Alan M. Dalton wrote:
>
>> However, not every website needs a skip-link: I didn’t put a skip-link on
>> http://accessibility.ie because the content comes before the navigation
>> on
>> each webpage.
>
> This works OK on this site because of the left-hand navigation. If the
> navigation were at the top of the page, it could be very confusing for
> sighted keyboard-only users for the navigation order to begin part way
> down the page.
>
>> as Luke Wroblewski says, “Focusing on
>> content first, navigation second gets people to the information and tasks
>> they want
>
> Which makes sense, so long as the information and tasks they want are
> not found in the navigation. This approach requires navigating
> entirely through the page content before one gets to the navigation.
> Would a "skip to navigation" link be useful?
>
> And to concur with others, "skip" links are generally still necessary,
> primarily for sighted keyboard users, even if landmarks are
> implemented. If browsers would simply provide keyboard navigation by
> headings and landmarks, the intrusive hack of "skip" links could go
> away. And good riddance to them!
>
> Jared
> > > >