Re: Fw: putting reader text in hidden <div> tags / adding pauses

For what it's worth, the about-to-be-released IBM Home Page Reader version 
3.02 will no longer read text with Display: None (or Visibility: Hidden). 
JAWS (at least as of 4.0.103) will read it if Display: None (or Visibility: 
Hidden) is set in the <style> block or in an external style sheet, but not 
if it is set in-line.

According to the CSS specs, screen readers should NOT read content with 
Display: None but should read content with Visibility: Hidden.

> 
> The original senders address was not available but I thought this a
> worthy question to toss out.
> 
> 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 Sunday, 2 December 2001 03:13:28 UTC