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From: pmr
Date: Fri, Oct 13 2006 11:10AM
Subject: Menu lists
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Current practice seems to be to use lists for menus. Remind me: is this
to satisfy 10.5 (printable characters between adjacent links)? Is there
more to it than that?

Penny





From: Christian Heilmann
Date: Fri, Oct 13 2006 12:50PM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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> Current practice seems to be to use lists for menus. Remind me: is this
> to satisfy 10.5 (printable characters between adjacent links)? Is there
> more to it than that?

Let's turn the question around: What else would you use?
Different options to choose from to me is a list.

--
Chris Heilmann
Book: http://www.beginningjavascript.com
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/




From: Al Sparber
Date: Fri, Oct 13 2006 1:10PM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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From: "Christian Heilmann" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Let's turn the question around: What else would you use?
> Different options to choose from to me is a list.

<div title="Main Bavigation">
<h3>Products</h3>
<ul title="Links to our main product categories">
<li><a href="hats.htm">Hats</a></li>
<li><a href="shoes.htm">Shoes</a></li>
<li><a href="socks.htm">Socks</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Company</h3>
<ul title="Links to pages that describe Company Information">
<li><a href="corp.htm">Corporate Info</a></li>
<li><a href="press.htm">Press releases</a></li>
<li><a href="contact.htm">Contact Info</a></li>
</ul>
</div

I think there are probably lots of methods - some using nested lists,
others using headings plus lists, some not using lists at all.

--
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".






From: Penny Roberts
Date: Wed, Oct 18 2006 3:30AM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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Christian Heilmann wrote:
>> Current practice seems to be to use lists for menus. Remind me: is this
>> to satisfy 10.5 (printable characters between adjacent links)? Is there
>> more to it than that?
>
> Let's turn the question around: What else would you use?
> Different options to choose from to me is a list.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the reply but on this occasion I need something more
concrete to point to: I need to be able to quote chapter and verse so to
speak.

Penny




From: ben morrison
Date: Wed, Oct 18 2006 3:50AM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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On 18/10/06, Penny Roberts < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Christian Heilmann wrote:
> >> Current practice seems to be to use lists for menus. Remind me: is this
> >> to satisfy 10.5 (printable characters between adjacent links)? Is there
> >> more to it than that?
> >
> > Let's turn the question around: What else would you use?
> > Different options to choose from to me is a list.
>
> Hi Chris,
> Thanks for the reply but on this occasion I need something more
> concrete to point to: I need to be able to quote chapter and verse so to
> speak.

There are lots of guidelines that you could interpret for your needs:

Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#tech-group-information

Group related links:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS/#tech-group-links

Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets.
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-order-style-sheets

ben
--
Ben Morrison




From: Penny Roberts
Date: Wed, Oct 18 2006 5:30AM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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ben morrison wrote:
> On 18/10/06, Penny Roberts < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>> Christian Heilmann wrote:
>>>> Current practice seems to be to use lists for menus. Remind me: is this
>>>> to satisfy 10.5 (printable characters between adjacent links)? Is there
>>>> more to it than that?
>>> Let's turn the question around: What else would you use?
>>> Different options to choose from to me is a list.
>> Hi Chris,
>> Thanks for the reply but on this occasion I need something more
>> concrete to point to: I need to be able to quote chapter and verse so to
>> speak.
>
> There are lots of guidelines that you could interpret for your needs:
>
> Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#tech-group-information
>
> Group related links:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS/#tech-group-links
>
> Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets.
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-order-style-sheets

Thanks Ben, that's exactly what I need.

Penny




From: Philip Kiff
Date: Wed, Oct 18 2006 7:10AM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = wrote:
> On 18/10/06, Penny Roberts < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>> Christian Heilmann wrote:
>>>> Current practice seems to be to use lists for menus. Remind me:
>>>> is this to satisfy 10.5 (printable characters between adjacent
>>>> links)? Is there more to it than that?
>>>
>>> Let's turn the question around: What else would you use?
>>> Different options to choose from to me is a list.
>>
>> Hi Chris,
>> Thanks for the reply but on this occasion I need something
>> more concrete to point to: I need to be able to quote chapter and
>> verse so to speak.
>
> There are lots of guidelines that you could interpret for your needs:
>
> Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups:
>
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#tech-group-information
>
> Group related links:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS/#tech-group-links
>
> Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets.
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-order-style-sheets
>
> ben

To Ben's list, I would add...

WCAG 1.0 Guideline 3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/wai-pageauth.html#gl-structure-presentat
ion

Checkpoint 3.6:
"Mark up lists and list items properly. [Priority 2]
For example, in HTML, nest OL, UL, and DL lists properly."

My impression is that part of the rationale behind marking up navigation
menus as lists is that, as Chris implies, a navigation menu is usually best
classified as a "list" (of links), and therefore, in order to mark it
correctly in X/HTML you should use list elements.

Phil.





From: Moore, Michael
Date: Wed, Oct 18 2006 7:20AM
Subject: Re: Menu lists
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Penny,

Its simply good semantic markup. A menu is a list of links. (Web
Standards) For more information consult the Web Standards Project at
http://www.webstandards.org/ or check out related articles at ALA
http://alistapart.com/

>From a screen reader standpoint, it is possible to discover the number
of items in the menu and to easily skip past the menu when it is marked
up as an unordered list.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that search algorithms take advantage of
list mark up either.

mike