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Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)

From: Terrill Bennett
Date: Mon, Aug 16 2010 10:18AM
Subject: Navigation Techinques
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Being relatively new to screen readers (been using JAWS and NVDA for
testing since late March), I am curious to hear from those who live
by their screen readers...

When you come across a web site which has no document structure (i.e.
headings), how does one navigate the site successfully?

Here's a perfect example of where I am having difficulty
understanding the task:

http://www.ada.gov/publicat.htm#Anchor-14210

Obliviously, the above page must be "accessible!" (Yes, I have
learned being accessible according to Section 508 / WCAG 1.0 Level 1
isn't the same thing as being useful or friendly).

Using NVDA, I noticed there are items in block quotes and used "q" to
move between them, but for the most part that doesn't seem to be very
effective - I may as well follow the links. Using either block quote
or link navigation misses most of what is important on the page.

In JAWS, I tried using the "s" (next same element) but that doesn't
seem to honor the elements style or formatting, and mostly goes to
the next paragraph and / or link.

A penny for your thoughts.

-- Terrill --
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."
Despair.com

From: Carin Headrick
Date: Mon, Aug 16 2010 11:03AM
Subject: Re: Navigation Techinques
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Looks like your only friend is the skip nav link. That got me to the main
content.

Other than that, using a find to look for a specific word might help, or
using the links list, or in JAWS, there is a command to look for the first
block of text that is not a link, which is insert enter, but that didn't
work so well here.

If you manage to become familiar with the site, the links list can also be
helpful.

Carin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrill Bennett" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 12:17 PM
Subject: [WebAIM] Navigation Techinques


Being relatively new to screen readers (been using JAWS and NVDA for
testing since late March), I am curious to hear from those who live
by their screen readers...

When you come across a web site which has no document structure (i.e.
headings), how does one navigate the site successfully?

Here's a perfect example of where I am having difficulty
understanding the task:

http://www.ada.gov/publicat.htm#Anchor-14210

Obliviously, the above page must be "accessible!" (Yes, I have
learned being accessible according to Section 508 / WCAG 1.0 Level 1
isn't the same thing as being useful or friendly).

Using NVDA, I noticed there are items in block quotes and used "q" to
move between them, but for the most part that doesn't seem to be very
effective - I may as well follow the links. Using either block quote
or link navigation misses most of what is important on the page.

In JAWS, I tried using the "s" (next same element) but that doesn't
seem to honor the elements style or formatting, and mostly goes to
the next paragraph and / or link.

A penny for your thoughts.

-- Terrill --
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each
other."
Despair.com

From: Birkir Rúnar Gunnarsson
Date: Mon, Aug 16 2010 12:18PM
Subject: Re: Navigation Techinques
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Wish Jaws (and NVDA) I usually use "n" to skip past a group of links,
assuming the static / main links are on top of the page skips to the
first instance of non-link text on a page, or past a list or group of
links. This can help getting through the usual list of links that
appear at the top of every page.
Jaws key f7 presents the list of links and you can use letter
navigation to find the one you want quickly (this is also in NVDA, but
I can´t remember what key combination believe it is the same).
But not using well structured html presents a huge problem to the
user, correct use of headings and buttons, I find, can make navigating
certain pages and doing some tasks to a matter of seconds. I know not
everyone is a fan of the AccessKey attribute, but I like it too where
appropriate.
I do not like it, e.g. when "submit" or equivanelt control in a form
is a link, not a button usually you can fill in the edit fields using
"e" to jump between form fields, then turn off forms mode and press b
to lend you directly on the "sign in" button, if it is a link you have
to start looking.
I hope this helps somewhat.
-B

On 8/16/10, Carin Headrick < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Looks like your only friend is the skip nav link. That got me to the main
> content.
>
> Other than that, using a find to look for a specific word might help, or
> using the links list, or in JAWS, there is a command to look for the first
> block of text that is not a link, which is insert enter, but that didn't
> work so well here.
>
> If you manage to become familiar with the site, the links list can also be
> helpful.
>
> Carin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Terrill Bennett" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 12:17 PM
> Subject: [WebAIM] Navigation Techinques
>
>
> Being relatively new to screen readers (been using JAWS and NVDA for
> testing since late March), I am curious to hear from those who live
> by their screen readers...
>
> When you come across a web site which has no document structure (i.e.
> headings), how does one navigate the site successfully?
>
> Here's a perfect example of where I am having difficulty
> understanding the task:
>
> http://www.ada.gov/publicat.htm#Anchor-14210
>
> Obliviously, the above page must be "accessible!" (Yes, I have
> learned being accessible according to Section 508 / WCAG 1.0 Level 1
> isn't the same thing as being useful or friendly).
>
> Using NVDA, I noticed there are items in block quotes and used "q" to
> move between them, but for the most part that doesn't seem to be very
> effective - I may as well follow the links. Using either block quote
> or link navigation misses most of what is important on the page.
>
> In JAWS, I tried using the "s" (next same element) but that doesn't
> seem to honor the elements style or formatting, and mostly goes to
> the next paragraph and / or link.
>
> A penny for your thoughts.
>
> -- Terrill --
> "When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each
> other."
> Despair.com
>
>

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Mon, Aug 16 2010 1:39PM
Subject: Re: Navigation Techinques
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Terrill,

Sometimes, there is no successful way to navigate the page. If it lacks
semantic structure or any recognizable patterns, you end up reading the
whole thing or randomly skipping around hoping to get close.

Actually, the most successful approach in that case is to avoid using
the site. It is not always a choice though.

From: ckrugman
Date: Wed, Aug 18 2010 4:39PM
Subject: Re: Navigation Techinques
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Without headerswhen using JAWS I can tab through the links or use the arrow
keys to move around the page. I generally will do this as it can take less
time than dealing with headers although the headers allow for better
organization of the matierial on a page.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrill Bennett" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:17 AM
Subject: [WebAIM] Navigation Techinques


> Being relatively new to screen readers (been using JAWS and NVDA for
> testing since late March), I am curious to hear from those who live
> by their screen readers...
>
> When you come across a web site which has no document structure (i.e.
> headings), how does one navigate the site successfully?
>
> Here's a perfect example of where I am having difficulty
> understanding the task:
>
> http://www.ada.gov/publicat.htm#Anchor-14210
>
> Obliviously, the above page must be "accessible!" (Yes, I have
> learned being accessible according to Section 508 / WCAG 1.0 Level 1
> isn't the same thing as being useful or friendly).
>
> Using NVDA, I noticed there are items in block quotes and used "q" to
> move between them, but for the most part that doesn't seem to be very
> effective - I may as well follow the links. Using either block quote
> or link navigation misses most of what is important on the page.
>
> In JAWS, I tried using the "s" (next same element) but that doesn't
> seem to honor the elements style or formatting, and mostly goes to
> the next paragraph and / or link.
>
> A penny for your thoughts.
>
> -- Terrill --
> "When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each
> other."
> Despair.com
>
>