|
|
Posted by David Mark on 08/06/07 22:34
On Aug 6, 11:16 am, Dylan Parry <use...@dylanparry.com> wrote:
> I've been wondering lately about navigation and accessibility. There are
> two places that the navigation can "live":
>
> 1) Before the content;
> 2) After the content
>
> But which is best from an accessibility point of view? I used to think
After the content.
> that it was best to put the content first and the navigation following
> it, but started to think about it - what's more annoying: having to
> select a "skip navigation" link/listening to the same navigation on
> every page; or realising you're on the wrong page but having to listen
> to 20 paragraphs of content before getting to the navigation?
Change your thinking. Put a "Skip to Navigation" link before the
content. You can optionally hide it for screen media and show it for
handheld. But realize that if you hide it, most screen readers will
not "see" it either as they just read what is on the screen (this is
why some authors position the link off the screen, instead of hiding
it.) Aural browsers will see it either way.
Also, links that reference the next, previous, parent and home pages
should have access keys, as well as link elements in the header. A
bookmark link that references the navigation anchor is a good idea as
well. Lynx (for example) displays these types of links in a row
across the top of the page.
View pages in Lynx, a mobile device or listen to them through a screen
reader (or aural browser) and it becomes apparent that navigation
first is backwards and often redundant.
Furthermore, look at search engine result snippets for upside-down
sites and you see the same "Back to Home", "Contact Us", "Feedback",
etc. text over and over. I have also heard that spiders prefer to see
top-level headings and relevant content at or near the top (the higher
the better.)
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|