[w3c-wai-ig] <none>

I believe that it was considered a bug that HPR spoke text with the style
display:none (I agree with that assessment) and I think it will no longer be
true with the 3.02 upgrade that should be available soon. I think JFW does
not speak display:none text either.

Both www.firstgov.gov and www.assistivetech.net use hidden text for skip
navigation links, with text and background color the same. Also www.ibm.com
gets hidden text by attaching it as alt-text for a small (invisible) gif.

The only way I know to get pauses is to add periods. I have seen these with
an unusual style, like white on white!

(I'm not a subscriber to this list!)

Jim
jim@jimthatcher.com
Accessibility Consulting
http://jimthatcher.com
512-306-0931

-----Original Message-----
 From: owner-basr-l@trace.wisc.edu
[mailto:owner-basr-l@trace.wisc.edu]On
> Behalf Of Rand, Robert
 Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 9:01 AM
> To: 'basr-l@trace.wisc.edu'
 Subject: putting reader text in hidden <div> tags / adding pauses

Hi, I'm a web developer for a federal agency website and a newcomer to
this list. We are experimenting with adding text for for screen readers to
our  home page and index pages that is hidden from the visual browser window
with the following coding:

<div style="display:none;">reader text goes here. . . .</div>

I have verified that Netscape 4.7, Explorer 5, and Opera 5.12 won't show
the hidden text visually but that IBM Home Page Reader will read the text.
We haven't yet tested the coding with JAWS.

Is anyone else using this coding or can someone recommend another
approach?

What prompted this experimentation was that in conversation with some
of our  staff using screen readers, we discovered that our home page, with
70+
links, is overwhelming. Visually the organization is clear, but the
screen reader simply reads all the links one after the other without the
benefit of identifying main link headings. We want to add a more explanatory
menu for screen readers with just the main links to our important index
pages,
uncluttered by secondary links that they would find on the second level
index pages anyway.

Second question is: has anyone had success with adding coding that
provides a pause for screen readers between lists of links? Is that
important?

Thanks in advance for any help.
<snipped>

 Bob Rand, Web developer
 Securities and Exchange Commission

Received on Saturday, 1 December 2001 12:17:18 UTC