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Re: skip-nav tabindex setfocus etc.

for

From: Al Sparber
Date: Mar 15, 2006 3:30PM

Gez Lemon wrote:
> The confusion is probably more about the link phrase than the
> concept
> of a skip link. Phrases like "skip navigation", "jump to main
> content", "jump to navigation", etc, are confusing because they're
> not typical of link phrases as they contain verbs that describe an
> action rather than a target. A link phrase of "main content",
> "navigation menu", or anything else that describes the target rather
> than the action is less likely to confuse people.

Partly true, no doubt.

>> Personally, I feel that skip links that appear on focus are always
>> seen by the people who would need to use them. Your mileage, as
>> always, will vary.
>
> Feelings are great, but empirical evidence to support your
> hypothesis
> would be a lot more useful.

I wish I had some, too. I can only go by what customers tell us and,
sadly, accessibility is not given the weight it should by many folks.


> I agree with Patrick that this is really a user-agent issue - skip
> links are a hack to make up for shortfalls in user-agents. Having
> said
> that, if you're going to provide skip links, I don't see the point
> in
> hiding them, as the very people that could benefit from them are
> likely to miss them. Hiding skip links is merely paying lip-service
> to
> a recognised a problem; better than nothing, but barely adequate.

Do you have any supporting data you could point me to? Specifically,
do keyboard or mouseless surfers tend to not look at the screen as
they navigate or do they tend to press the tab key in such rapid
succession that they would miss a focus link?

Thanks.

--
Al Sparber
PVII
http://www.projectseven.com

"Designing with CSS is sometimes like barreling down a crumbling
mountain road at 90 miles per hour secure in the knowledge that
repairs
are scheduled for next Tuesday".