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RE: Visible skip navigation links, was: good example

for

From: Spruill, Kevin (NIH/NLM)
Date: Nov 12, 2003 10:30AM

Stephanie,

>>... If someone is tabbing through a page, when done properly, they work...
But why would >>a elderly person who is USING A MOUSE as you say need to
skip the navigation?? The >>navigation is not taking up >>the whole
page (it's generally at the top or on the >>side)... They must be
reading? And if they want to navigate to another page, they'll >>click a
link...

Let's see...if a user has their font size set to say... 150 to 200% in a
(Mozilla flavor browser, etc. - or using an ipaq or similar device) then
skipping the navigation controls (albeit few in the first example) would be
very helpful...

>>In the above site on nihseniorhealth.gov (nice example on the top bar
btw), if I'm >>sighted and using a mouse, I clicked skip nav and it
doesn't do anything... Because >>there's nothing to skip really. There's
just a menu on that page...

In the nihseniorhealth site, the skip link places focus on farther along in
the page, depending on screen size, resolution, and browser size you may or
may not see the focus change - for example:

http://nihseniorhealth.gov/alzheimersdisease/defined/01.html - selecting the
skip navigation link allows the user to bypass the global navigation links
at the top, as well as all the topical navigation links on the left hand
side. Focus is placed on the subject topic, and subtopic... Tabbing then
places focus on the actual content paragraph.

>>It would, however, be helpful to screen readers or people who navigate
with the keyboard.

>>Am I missing something here?

Not necessarily, my only point in the initial reply to your question was
that it's important to consider as many scenarios as possible. As a sighted
user, YOU might not readily see (no pun intended) value in the use of
visible links... But there are a lot of users who don't use computers the
way you would - or have the abilities you do... Or here's a better
question... Why not make them visible, they don't hurt or hinder access?

HK


Kevin Spruill
U.S. National Library of Medicine, NIH (OCCS)
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
(301) 402-9708
(301) 402-0367 (fax)
<EMAIL REMOVED>






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