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RE: skip-nav tabindex setfocus etc.

for

From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Mar 15, 2006 4:30AM

Gez Lemon wrote:
> Have you done any user-testing to confirm that assertion? ...
> There is no reason for anyone to assume they should pay special
> attention to the screen on the off-chance that some navigation
> aid will suddenly present itself, as it isn't expected behaviour.

A good point, and unfortunately I've found that people who rely on
keyboard navigation but don't use a screen reader are hard to come by
for user tests, so it isn't a direct observation.

However, just thinking about it from a logical interaction point of
view, if you rely on a keyboard to navigate, but without something like
a screen reader, what are the options apart from tab?

If you are using tab to navigate the page, how do you know a link is
selected if you aren't looking at the screen?

It's entirely possible I've missed a context of use, e.g. a common
technologies for keyboard oriented access?

If not though, I'm not sure who it would disadvantage.

Kind regards,

-Alastair

--
Alastair Campbell | Director of User Experience

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