List Markup to Achieve Skip Repetitive Navigation Links Functionality

Hello all!

 

I am new to the list, so I hope I don't embarrass myself straight out of
the chute, but I had a question about providing users with a means of
skipping repetitive navigation links.  In exploring the latest version
of the JAWS screen-reader, I discovered that using list markup for your
navigation links provides this same functionality, since there is robust
ability to navigate list structures, including the ability to completely
skip them.  Just add a title attribute to the <ul> or <ol> tag,
describing what the list contains, and the user can choose whether or
not to skip it.  This being the case, is it really necessary to put a
skip navigation link at the start of listed navigation?  Is this
unacceptable, because not enough user agents provide this functionality
or has this just been overlooked?  I'll be honest; my experience with
screen readers is pretty much limited to JAWS.  Can anyone else let me
know if this would be a reliable technique?

 

Thanks,

Rob Fentress