Skip links and keyboard navigation

Hi all

I thought I'd pass this issue past the experts in this group for your opinion.

This issue involves skip links that do not appear with keyboard activation - in other words dont' show focus either all the time or with keyboard focus.

Obviously if they are there and hidden, the screen reader user still hears them, but the keyboard only user does not receive that benefit and has to tab throughout the whole page to get to the main content.

G202: Ensuring keyboard control for all functionality which covers 2.1.1 and 2.1.3 says “The objective of this technique is to provide keyboard operation for all the functionality (defined as processes and outcomes achievable through user action) of the page.”  In this case (when the keyboarder can’t access the skip links), it would appear they can’t have keyboard operation for all the functionality of the page.  What keyboarders can’t do is to access the skip links, which really benefits a keyboard only user as they can’t skip the multitude of navigational links.

Would you agree that this fails 2.1.1 when the keyboard operation doesn’t activate the skip links, which means that it should also fail 2.1.3?


Regards

Vivienne L. Conway, B.IT(Hons), MACS CT, AALIA(cs)
PhD Candidate & Sessional Lecturer, Edith Cowan University, Perth, W.A.
Director, Web Key IT Pty Ltd.
v.conway@ecu.edu.au<mailto:v.conway@ecu.edu.au>
v.conway@webkeyit.com<mailto:v.conway@webkeyit.com>
Mob: 0415 383 673

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