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Re: Current page - link or no link

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From: Michael D. Roush
Date: Nov 30, 2005 7:40PM

Carol E. Wheeler wrote:

> Well, I am doing this by using a virtual file for navigation across all
> my pages. This is on small sites with only level(6 buttons or so) in the
> navigation bar. Is there a way to disable the link to the current page
> without adding code to individual pages? Is this only critical in a
> complex site? Does this constitute an accessibility issue I need to
> address?

In my experience, most accessibility consultants will tell you that
having a link on a page that goes to the place you already are is a
potential barrier for folks with cognitive disorders. Heck, I can tell
you from my own personal experience that it is quite frustrating to
click on a link that you think is going to take you to a different page,
but it just plops you right back down where you already were - sorta
like getting in the elevator on the first floor and pushing the "1"
button and expecting to go somewhere.

While the process would be different for different programming
languages, there is usually a way to design an effective means for
getting around this. On the pages I design using PHP, I use a string of
"if" statements that logically read something like this... "If the
navigation item is the current page, display it in the 'current page'
format, if not, display it as a link."

One thing I caught myself on soon after that, though, was that all the
text items in the navigation still looked the same except that the
'current page' was a different color. I suspect this is a no-no as
well, violating the guideline against presenting information only with a
color cue.