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Re: Focus between the main content and left sidebar (Responsive site)

for

From: David Engebretson Jr
Date: Oct 29, 2018 2:57PM

I sure like this idea of displaying the main content first in a mobile
situation. I usually use the iPhone with Voiceover and find the rotor a bit
daunting at times because I like to have all of the rotor options
available... I've set up the rotor so it's full of navigation options in
Safari. If I navigate to a site I want to read the main content right away.
Usually. One nice thing about the IOS Safari browser is the Reader option.
That usually jumps me directly to the main content that I would be most
likely to want to read. While using JAWS or NVDA in a desktop situation,
with Chrome and Firefox running in responsive mode, I'd want to have the
same user experience as if I was not in responsive mode.

Thing is, if you change the navigation of your site while it is being
resized in response to the hardware screen size, you are requiring an
assistive technology user to learn a new user experience/interface. It can
be cognitively difficult, on a user, to change the user paridigm. For most
users you'd want to have a similar UX whether or not they navigate on a
mobile or desktop device. Semantic HTML design, then fun with ARIA and
JavaScript.

So, a quick and simple way to get to the main content is probably better
than changing your dom order based on screen size or browser preference,
IMHO.

Did the audit you referenced come with any pointers to the WCAG guidelines?
Might be handy for you while you debug the issues.
https://www.w3.org/

Best,
David