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Thread: Links to anchor points in separate documents
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Ben Lobo
Date: Tue, May 18 2004 9:52AM
Subject: Links to anchor points in separate documents
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Does anyone know if there are any 'official' reasons not to link to named
anchors points in separate documents? Some of my colleagues think it's not
safe because it can disorient users when the link goes from one document to
somewhere in the middle of a different (and possibly very long) document.
While I can see that this is true, I can't find any literature or guidance
regarding whether or not this is considered an accessiblity issue. My
feeling is that, as long as I can provide clear navigational aids and make
it as easy as possible for users to get back to the target's origin, it
should be permitted.
Ben Lobo
Programmer
http://www.adaptivetechnologies.com
From: Paul Bohman
Date: Tue, May 18 2004 2:33PM
Subject: Re: Links to anchor points in separate documents
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Ben Lobo asked:
Does anyone know if there are any 'official' reasons not to link to named anchors points in separate documents?
My response:
As with many accessibility questions, this is largely a usability issue for which the real answer is "it depends."
In the case of some long technical documents, it would be cruel to NOT link to the anchors in the document if your intention is to reference a specific part of the document. Not providing a link would force the user to search for the information in the page.
In the case of short Web pages, linking to an anchor could very well result in more disorientation than is justifiable.
It makes sense to take the circumstances into account when deciding whether or not to link to an anchor on another page.
--
Paul Bohman
Project Coordinator
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind)
www.webaim.org
Utah State University
www.usu.edu
Web Accessibility Coordination & Leadership Online Training
Starts June 1, 2004
Sign up now at http://www.webaim.org/events/symposium/
From: julian.rickards
Date: Wed, May 19 2004 6:41AM
Subject: RE: Links to anchor points in separate documents
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I use this technique on a client's web site (a college of a small
university) where I link from the current course schedule to the course
descriptions which exist on a long page. Of course, if you are linking to a
page "controlled" by someone else (as I have done in linking to related
courses in another college of the same university), they may change the page
and break the link.
---------------------------------------------------------
Julian Rickards
Digital Publications Distribution Coordinator
Publications Services Section
Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines
Phone: (705) 670-5608
Fax: (705) 670-5690
>
From: Sachin Pavithran
Date: Wed, May 19 2004 3:43PM
Subject: Re: Links to anchor points in separate documents
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Ben,
From a screen readers prospective, I always found linking by anchor points
was more useful. Especially in pages that are really long. It just takes
more time when you have to read through the whole document to find a small
piece of information. As you know a screen reader user cannot skim through
the whole document like a sited user, instead they have to listen to the
whole document. I think linking by anchor points solves that problem.
Regards,
Sachin.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Lobo" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 8:52 AM
Subject: Links to anchor points in separate documents
> Does anyone know if there are any 'official' reasons not to link to named
> anchors points in separate documents? Some of my colleagues think it's not
> safe because it can disorient users when the link goes from one document
to
> somewhere in the middle of a different (and possibly very long) document.
>
> While I can see that this is true, I can't find any literature or guidance
> regarding whether or not this is considered an accessiblity issue. My
> feeling is that, as long as I can provide clear navigational aids and make
> it as easy as possible for users to get back to the target's origin, it
> should be permitted.
>
> Ben Lobo
> Programmer
> http://www.adaptivetechnologies.com
>