Re: Recursive Links in menu bars

Hi all,  Should menu
items that refer to the current page be linked or not?

on regard about what Jan Eric Hellbusch had said, in my opinion I would
not-link the item that refers to the current page and, at the same time,
maybe I would add a title explaining that the user is in that (current)
page.
For example:

<a href="#" title="Current page"> ...

or (maybe better?)

<a href="# title="Current page: name-of-the-page"> ...


An other reason, maybe for "technical" is: because the user is already in
that page he/she don't need (and/or maybe for market or whatever reasons
don't have) to re-click to re-open the same page. This could have at least
two benefits:

1) Saving bandwitdh.
2) If the user has a slow connections, he/she don't have to wait to re-go
on the same page (maybe he/she mistakenly clicked).


Of course, the item on the menu showing off the name of the page (or
whatever) I think should be highlighted, like Jan in his second example
placed the <strong> tag. This is for me a good way-to-do.

What do you all think about that?


Thanks Jan, thanks all in advance,
-- 
Walter Dolce,
Programmer, Web Developer

Phone: 348 2810146
Email: walterdolce@gmail.com
Website: www.lifearoundweb.com




2012/9/16 Jan Eric Hellbusch <hellbusch@2bweb.de>

> Hi all,
>
> recently I had a discussion with somebody about recursive links in menu
> bars. We were talking about static pages and identifying the current item
> in
> the menu bar. At the simplest level we are talking about the following
> alternatives:
>
> <ul id="nav">
> <li><a href="#">page 1</a></li>
> <li><a href="#"><span class="sr">Current page: </span>Page 2</a></li>
> ...
> </ul>
>
> Or
>
> <ul id="nav">
> <li><a href="#">Page 1</a></li>
> <li><strong><span class="sr">Current page: </span>Page 2</strong></li>
> ...
> </ul>
>
> Considerations:
>
> * Visual ques are expressed in CSS. The currently displayed item in the
> menu
> bar is visually highlighted with standard color settings and in contrast
> mode.
> * It is unclear whether the current item should be a link or not.
>
> There is now success criterion in WCAG 2.0 to clarify the question, but in
> the best practice technique
> http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G128.html
> the third example presents a possibility.
>
> I would be interested to know how others go about the matter. Should menu
> items that refer to the current page be linked or not? Are there pros or
> cons with respect to accessibility or usability (in general), or are there
> other (e.g. technical) reasons?
>
> Regards,
> Jan
>
> --
> Jan Eric Hellbusch
> Tel.: +49 (231) 86436760 oder +49 (163) 3369925
> Web: http://2bweb.de     Twitter: www.twitter.com/2bweb
> --
> Das Buch über barrierefreies Webdesign:
> "Barrierefreiheit verstehen und umsetzen - Webstandards für ein
> zugängliches
> und nutzbares Internet"
> 812 Seiten, Dpunkt Verlag (2011)
> http://www.barrierefreies-webdesign.de/dpunkt/
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Walter Dolce,
Programmer, Web Developer

Phone: 348 2810146
Email: walterdolce@gmail.com
Website: www.lifearoundweb.com