WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: where should be the default focus on search resultpage?

for

From: Shrirang Sahasrabudhe
Date: Dec 21, 2006 10:40PM

Hi,
I am having following page structure
1. Some navigation elements/menus
2. search bar
3. list of links for result pages. Page1, page2 so on.
4. search results
5. again list of links for result pages. Page1, page2 so on.
6. <h2>filters</h2> beginning of section for fieltering results
7. <h3> by doc type
8. <h3> by category
9. list of links to categories.
………
Following the discussion on list, I am planning to put <h2> to mark the beginning of the search results and beginning of the pagination list. (section 3,4,5 above)
As the use of additional “h2” is changing the look I am planning to put it off screen(using style=”position: absolute; left: -100EM”
Will this be helpful and according to standards too?
Thanks
Shri


"Egan, Bim" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote: Sorry Jim, I have to come back on that:

>Jim wrote:
>> Putting any html heading at the top of the search results is KEY and an
>excellent accessibility accommodation.

The need for a logical order and heirarchy of structured headings is because screen reader users need this information to find out the relative importance of each section of information on a page. When entering a page, if I find that the first heading is H3, using JAWS shortcuts I'd immediately seek the H1 heading, as this should be at the top of the main content. If the page is full of H3's where should I start?

Using heading levels as triggers for different styles isn't using headings to give a semantic overview of the page content, and isn't considered accessible, not just my view:

W3C Techniques FOR wcag1.0
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-HTML-TECHS/#grouping

"Since some users skim through a document by navigating its headings, it is important to use them appropriately to convey document structure. Users should order heading elements properly. For example, in HTML, H2 elements should follow H1 elements, H3 elements should follow H2 elements, etc. Content developers should not "skip" levels (e.g., H1 directly to H3). Do not use headings to create font effects; use style sheets to change font styles for example."

kIND REGARDS,

bIM