RE: Recursive Links in menu bars [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

UNCLASSIFIED

Hi Jan,

I've always felt that this falls under Link Purpose (Success Criteria 2.4.4 & 2.4.9) in that links take you somewhere as described by the link (or it's context) and that a link that just reloads the current page fails the intent of these success criteria.

SC 2.4.4 and 2.4.9 on their Understanding pages say "The intent of this Success Criterion is to help users understand the purpose of each link so they can decide whether they want to follow the link." If you are already on a page, then why would you want to reload and start again from the top?

Cheers, Andrew
---
Andrew Arch
Australian Government Information Management Office Dept. Finance and Deregulation
p: 02 6215 1618 | w: www.finance.gov.au/agimo/

-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Eric Hellbusch [mailto:hellbusch@2bweb.de]
Sent: Monday, 17 September 2012 1:15 AM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
Subject: Recursive Links in menu bars

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/





UNCLASSIFIED
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Received on Monday, 17 September 2012 00:44:41 UTC