- From: Wendy A Chisholm <chisholm@trace.wisc.edu>
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 16:12:29 -0500
- To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
per yesterday's discussion, here is my proposal for rewording the section
in the techniques document that discusses grouping and bypassing links.
4.6.1 Grouping and bypassing links
When links are grouped into logical sets (for example, a navigation bar
that appears on every page in a site) they should be marked up as a unit.
Navigation bars are usually the first thing someone encounters on a page.
For users with speech synthesizers, this means hearing the same links on
every page before reaching the interesting content of a page. Other
keyboard users, such as some users with physical disabilities, will have to
tab through all of these links to reach links further down the page. Note:
this is not true for all browsers.
We suggest using the MAP element with the title "attribute" to group and
label the links. There are a number of ways to allow users to jump past
the group of links.
The first link in the group skips over the set of navigation links
when selected.
Provide a style sheet that allows users to hide the set of navigation
links.
Provide a script that shows or hides the set of navigation links as
desired by the user.
The first option seems to be compatible with yesterday's, today's, and
tomorrow's browsers. The other two options are not as backwards compatible
but may be more useful in the future.
In the future, user agents will allow users to skip over elements such as
navigation bars.
Example.
In this example, the MAP element groups a set of links, the "title"
attribute gives it a human readable label, the "class" attribute identifies
it as a navigation bar (e.g., for style sheets), and a link at the
beginning of the group
links to the anchor after the group.
<HEAD>
<TITLE>How to use our site</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<MAP title="Navigation bar" class="nav">
[<A href="#how">Bypass navigation bar</A>]
[<A href="home.html">Home</A>]
[<A href="search.html">Search</A>]
[<A href="new.html">New and highlighted</A>]
[<A href="sitemap.html">Site map</A>]
</P>
<H1><A name="how">How to use our site</A></H1>
<!-- content of page -->
</BODY>
End example.
the current wording in the techniques document
(http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS-19990505/#group-bypass):
4.6.1 Grouping and bypassing links
When links are grouped into logical sets (for example, in a navigation bar
that appears on every page in a site) they should be marked up as a unit.
Navigation bars are usually the first thing someone encounters on a
page. For users with speech synthesizers, this means having to hear a
number of links on every page before
reaching the interesting content of a page. There are several ways to allow
users to bypass groups of links (as
users with vision do when they see the same set on each page):
Include a link that allows users to skip over the set of navigation
links.
Use the HTML 4.0 "tabindex" attribute to allow users to jump to an
anchor after the set of
navigation links. This attribute is not yet widely supported.
Provide a style sheet that allows users to hide the set of navigation
links.
In the future, user agents will allow users to skip over elements such as
navigation bars.
In HTML, use the DIV, SPAN, P, or FRAME elements to group links then
identify the group with the "id" or
"class" attributes.
Example.
In this example, the P element groups a set of links, the "class" attribute
identifies it as a navigation bar (e.g.,
for style sheets), "tabindex" is set on an anchor following the group, and
a link at the beginning of the group
links to the anchor after the group.
<HEAD>
<TITLE>How to use our site</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P class="nav">
[<A href="#how">Bypass navigation bar</A>]
[<A href="home.html">Home</A>]
[<A href="search.html">Search</A>]
[<A href="new.html">New and highlighted</A>]
[<A href="sitemap.html">Site map</A>]
</P>
<H1><A name="how" tabindex="1">How to use our site</A></H1>
<!-- content of page -->
</BODY>
End example.
Received on Friday, 27 August 1999 17:12:56 UTC