Re: "Bypass Blocks" Question

On Wed, 8 Jul 2015, Mandana Eibegger wrote:

> Does HTML5 count as an "accessibility supported technology" in the meantime?

HTML 5 should always be the first go-to for accessibility supported technologies. WAI-ARIA is a fallback for those times when HTML 5 doesn't have sufficient semantics.

> And what about users, not using AT (just tabbing in the browser)?

Exactly. Keyboard, voice, and magnification users also need the ability to bypass. Magnification users probably most of all, since basic page semantics such as HTML headers can make a page accessible to a screen reader user, but they don't help magnification users.

> Wouldn't it still be necessary to implement skip-links and access-keys to 
> make a webpage accessible?

Skip links should do it, and are advisable until such time as the user agent manufacturers decide to make navigation via heading possible in the user agents without using a screen reader.

Access keys seem to be getting phased out increasingly in favor of JavaScript-created keyboard navigation. This is arguably unfortunate, given that JavaScript keyboard navigation is far more likely to collide with existing AT key bindings.

Deborah Kaplan

Received on Wednesday, 8 July 2015 12:58:23 UTC