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Re: skip-nav tabindex setfocus etc.

for

From: Gez Lemon
Date: Mar 15, 2006 4:00PM

Hi Al,

On 15/03/06, Al Sparber < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > 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?

Good call; I wish I did have supporting data, but it's purely
observational. I've seen people that have been focusing on the part of
the screen they want to arrive at, and only paying partial attention
to the links they're tabbing through and have tabbed straight past a
skip link which would have put them closer to where they wanted to be.
Without usability studies, we're all second-guessing based on our own
experiences and observations.

It would be a great to get some data on hidden and permanently
revealed skip-links, preferable using eye-tracking technology, to get
a better understanding of how people who navigate mainly with the
keyboard interact both consciously and subconsciously with web
content.

Best regards,

Gez

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