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From: Alan Zaitchik
Date: Jul 11, 2016 2:08PM


Any help most appreciated.

We are trying to make as accessible as possible an existing web site that features bibliographic references formatted according to Wikipedia style, with superscripted square brackets around a number. The number links to an item in a bibliography at the end of the article. (Hope that makes sense.)

Is there a recommended "best practice" for handling citations to make them as accessible as possible, both to users of screen readers as well as to sighted but mobility restricted, keyboard-only users? I am not sure there is any reason the Wikiperdia approach would worse than other approaches; it seems to me the brackets and superscripting makes it visually more clear to those with some sight that we have a citation, but I ask nonetheless. Related: what markup should be placed around the <a>? Is there an ARIA landmark that should be used? Is there support for the HTLM4 <cite> tag?

In short: what is the best strategy here?

Thanks!
Alan