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Re: Best Practices

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From: Jeremy Echols
Date: Mar 11, 2020 1:32PM

It may also be worth noting that today's best practices often become tomorrow's requirements. If you're looking for a cheaper way to follow WCAG, bear in mind that it's actually a better investment to get things done today that are likely to be required in the next release of WCAG compared to doing the bare minimum today and having gaps in the future.

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 07:03
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Best Practices

Sumit -

WCAG requires "a mechanism" to bypass repeated blocks of content on multiple pages - typically interpreted to mean navigation. If your main content starts with a heading (optimally an <h1>) or if you use a <main> element, these could be considered mechanisms to bypass the navigation, thus a "skip" link would not be necessary for WCAG conformance.

However, while headings and regions are useful for screen reader users, they do not (yet) provide much utility for sighted keyboard users who would need to manually navigate through the repeated navigation on each page. Because of this, we still strongly recommend a "skip" link be provided, even if WCAG may not require it.

The things you listed aren't "best practices" arbitrarily - they are best practices because they provide demonstrable benefit to users with disabilities.

Thanks,

Jared