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Thread: where should be the default focus on search result page?
Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)
From: Shrirang Sahasrabudhe
Date: Thu, Dec 21 2006 12:00AM
Subject: where should be the default focus on search result page?
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hi everyone and wish you all a great Christmas season.
in a search app, on the 'search results' page
where should be the default focus?
should it be on the "search query text box" or it should be at the beginning of the search results.
i am using H3 to mark beginning of the results and keeping default focus on the search query text box.
is this according to accessibility requirements?
thanks in advance
Shri
Warm Regards
Shrirang P. Sahasrabudhe
Software Engineer
Infosys Technologies Ltd
http://www.infosys.com/
The only way to avoid errors is to anticipate them
Source: Wings Of Fire
***********************************************************
If you try, you risk failure. If you don't, you ensure it....I try.
Shrirang Sahasrabudhe,
Pune, India.
Phone: 0091-020-4227558.
From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Thu, Dec 21 2006 2:50AM
Subject: Re: where should be the default focus on search resultpage?
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> Shrirang Sahasrabudhe
> in a search app, on the 'search results' page
> where should be the default focus?
I wouldn't mess with the focus at all. Let the user navigate the page as they would any other page.
> should it be on the "search query text box" or it should be
> at the beginning of the search results.
Setting the focus on the search box assumes that the first thing they'd want to do is perform another search (or refine the current one). This would probably be the exception, rather than the norm.
And, for a bit of empirical evidence: we have a staff directory search in our organisation that set the focus on the box, and it's very annoying...I usually do a search just for last name, then want to use Firefox's own "typeahead find" functionality, but just starting to type simply fills in the search box, and it means I have to first click somewhere on the page to move the focus and THEN do the in-page searching.
> i am using H3 to mark beginning of the results and keeping
> default focus on the search query text box.
> is this according to accessibility requirements?
I'd say that there's no accessibility guideline that covers this specifically, but from a usability point of view I'd suggest that you shouldn't mess with the focus at all.
P
From: Egan, Bim
Date: Thu, Dec 21 2006 3:00AM
Subject: Re: where should be the default focus on search resultpage?
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Hi again Shri,
With regard to the focus on any page, please just leave it to the users browser. If you use mechanisms to force focus to any other element, this may confuse the site visitor and could create a difference between the page focus and a screen reader's focus, which would certainly confuse screen reader users.
Why have you chosen H3 as the heading level for Search Results on the Search Results page? What other headings are there? Obviously the beginning of the results must have a structured heading, but it should be part of a logical heirarchy. So if the H3 Search Results heading is subordinate to logical H1 and H2 headings it would be correct, but choosing H3 as the level without being part of the page heirarchy would be incorrect.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Bim
From: Jim Thatcher
Date: Thu, Dec 21 2006 9:30AM
Subject: Re: where should be the default focus on search resultpage?
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Good work Shri,
Bim wrote:
> So if the H3 Search Results heading is subordinate to logical H1 and H2
> headings it would be correct, but choosing H3 as the level without being
> part of the page heirarchy would be incorrect.
Putting any html heading at the top of the search results is KEY and an
excellent accessibility accommodation. I disagree that the hierarchy is
incorrect or important or and accessibility problem - something that I harp
on frequently. This is an example of the fact that structure of headings for
web pages is nonsense. I good designer would set out the various "heading"
types, with all their presentation characteristics. Some would be h1's, some
h2's etc. The idea being any time you SEE and h2 its style would be the
same. Now comes a search result page. The only heading relevant is in the
designer's h3 set. That doesn't mean that the design should change - just
use an h3. No problem.
Jim
Accessibility Consulting
http://jimthatcher.com
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Egan, Bim
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 3:56 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] where should be the default focus on search
resultpage?
Hi again Shri,
With regard to the focus on any page, please just leave it to the users
browser. If you use mechanisms to force focus to any other element, this
may confuse the site visitor and could create a difference between the page
focus and a screen reader's focus, which would certainly confuse screen
reader users.
Why have you chosen H3 as the heading level for Search Results on the Search
Results page? What other headings are there? Obviously the beginning of
the results must have a structured heading, but it should be part of a
logical heirarchy. So if the H3 Search Results heading is subordinate to
logical H1 and H2 headings it would be correct, but choosing H3 as the level
without being part of the page heirarchy would be incorrect.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Bim
From: Egan, Bim
Date: Thu, Dec 21 2006 11:20AM
Subject: Re: where should be the default focus on search resultpage?
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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
From: Shrirang Sahasrabudhe
Date: Thu, Dec 21 2006 10:40PM
Subject: Re: where should be the default focus on search resultpage?
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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 ADDRESS 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