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davidrandall
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Skip Links - 8/1/2005 5:10:05
Hi all,
What are people's views on "skip" links? Where do you put them? How do you word them? Do you even use them?
Dave
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Tailslide
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 5:16:34
Yeah I use 'em (or have done on the last two sites I've done and will do in future).
Depending on the site and the structure I call them either "skip to contents", "Jump to contents" or "skip to navigation" if that's appropriate. I put them in first thing and usually leave them visible although sometimes fairly low contrast to the background. They'll always become stronger on focus to make them more obvious and I mention them in the accessibility statement where there is one.
Reason I leave them visible rather than make them invisible? Firstly I think that they might be useful to PDA viewers (not that there's loads of them) plus people who use keyboards rather than text viewer. Oh and because I haven't found a method I like to make them invisible!! (now the truth comes out!).
Edit: make that used on three sites including my own.
< Message edited by Tailslide -- 8/1/2005 5:18:00 >
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davidrandall
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 5:29:03
My use of skip links has evolved immensely over the past few months, based on user feedback. I'm following the format as seen at http://www.jackanorynursery.co.uk at the moment as I feel it's most user friendly.
I use the phrase "Skip to Content" so as the user knows what they are skipping to.
In future sites I'm going to use "Skip to main Content".
The reason for this is that when using "Skip to Content", Jaws places most emphasis on the "tent", rendering it as "Skip to content". Adding the extra word changes the emphasis to the whole word - "Skip to main content"
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davidrandall
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 5:44:51
quote:
Wonder if sticking an "s" on the end of content helps
I've tried that in the past but the issue is how Jaws renders the second syllable of the word.
I always try and place my menu before content - it gives users the option of choosing where they want to go straight from the start.
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Tailslide
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 10:49:58
That's the beauty of skip links.
If you've got your content first then you can offer a skip to navigation option and if your navigation is first then you offer a skip to contents option - everyone's happy!
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Tailslide
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 11:42:48
Not entirely - although lots of people do hide the link.
Possible advantages of showing the skip link (IMO):
1. For people who are using a visual browser but not a mouse - they can tab straight to the contents/navigation.
2. For those using PDAs - they can do the same.
3. Methods of hiding stuff can lead to problems - SEs don't like hidden things but more importantly depending on the method you choose some text readers don't like one method, some don't like another method - you might end up defeating the whole purpose of it. Sticking the link off the side of the page could lead to problems in the future if screens get much wider. Blooming everything's got a downside as well as an upside far as I can see!!
4. I suppose it raises awareness of accessibility in websites too which is a positive in my book.
I don't think it's a clear cut argument either way currently - there are perfectly reasonable arguments on both sides - so it ends up being personal preference.
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davidrandall
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 11:47:23
quote:
So why not use visibility:hidden;?
I keep mine visible for 3 main reasons:
- users who are navigating by keyboard don't get confused
- I'm advertising that the site is accessible by placing it in a group with the accessibility statement and sitemap
- Search engines may penalise a site with hidden text as it may interpret it as keyword spamming.
Just my opinion as to what works best for me
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Reflect
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RE: Skip Links - 8/1/2005 16:05:40
I am wondering what the SEs think about this (thinking out loud here only)? Here is one common example I see for this "link"...
<a href="#main">
<img src="spacer.gif" width="1" height="1" alt="Skip Navigation"></a>
Now a few years back I was told most SEs feed off of 1X1 pixel GIFs as possible bad SEO practices (I won't go heavily into this just Google it ((1X1 pixel GIFs+seo))). I wonder if the SEs still use this as a warning sign for "dirty SEO practices"?
This is backwards of what I did when using tables to "bump" my content ahead of the links by using a empty cell. Times change and so do we need to adapt.
Interesting reads.
Take care,
Brian
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Nicole
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RE: Skip Links - 8/9/2005 0:58:27
Just some more thoughts on this subject:
I've added "Skip to Main Content" and "Skip to Navigation" to the top of this template today (Yes it's the same old template, but as I'm in the middle of a learning frenzy lately I thought I'd practice everything on it).
I know I don't need both at the top of such a simple page, especially as the navigation appears first anyway, but to me "Skip to Main Content" up there all by itself looked out of place. It needed something else alongside it so that's why the "Skip to Navigation" is there also.
But it had me thinking a little more about some other things that could also appear above the main content for anyone who wants to add this feature but doesn't like how it might stand out so much. I've always wondered why on a website as opposed to printed material, a link to a sites "Terms of Use' and Privacy Policy" might appear at the end of a page in the footer, when it's really information you legally should know before reading or otherwise using a website. You don't begin reading a book by opening it at page 370 to see the author's information or who the book's designed for, so why should "Terms of Use" and "Privacy Policy" info on a website appear at the bottom of a page? So what I'm saying is that info could also appear alongside the "Skip Link" at the top of a page to help balance it out.
The other thing is that a lot of websites have information like that at the top of a page, most people (including me until very recently) have no idea what it's there for and don't really take any notice of it anyway, so I'm wondering whether it really looks out of place anyway. I guess if you had more than one line of "Skip Links" above the page contents it may begin to look a little odd.
Anyway, just some thoughts I had today.
Nicole
Edit: My jury's still out on how to present skip links really, this example was just something I tried today but I've read many other ways of presenting them on Jim Thatcher's site already mentioned in this thread. I'm wondering though, how clients react to what would seem to them until explained, an unnecessary distraction at the top of their website. And if they understand your explanation, whether they tend to say "yeah, but can't you do it another way"?
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Tailslide
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RE: Skip Links - 8/9/2005 3:51:06
Nicole
I like that a lot - it looks good. I'd maybe take off some of the left-padding so it lines up exactly with the left-hand edge of the box below but that's just me being picky!
I've used this technique on two client sites so far (plus my own). Both were fine with it when I explained and both were happy for it to stay there. If they were unhappy with it I'd use the hidden skip link technique instead but I'd still include them.
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Tailslide
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RE: Skip Links - 8/9/2005 5:32:12
quote:
ORIGINAL: Nicoleoz
That looks good David, that's what i meant by having extra info up there with the "Skip to..." link.
The thing is, all sites i've seen so far with skip links have been using light backgrounds. Maybe that's why I had second thoughts about how it would look on a darker page background with the main content on a light background?
Nicole
I did this on a dark background: http://www.bsg03fanfic.com/
Edit: This site is mainly maintained by the client so I don't expect it to validate anymore (before some smartypants checks!).
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spitfire
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RE: Skip Links - 8/9/2005 5:42:20
quote:
ORIGINAL: davidrandall
What are people's views on "skip" links? Where do you put them? How do you word them? Do you even use them?
My take on skip links - fwiw.
My main site, currently in design upgrade, is 3 columns source ordered, content first in the source code. There are two *apparently* invisible (to sighted visitors) links at the top of the page, which become visible when tabbed to i.e on focus. I find visible "focus" impossible to achieve on titchy little 1x1 gifs. The skip links say "go direct to resources menu" and "go direct to tutorials menu". Terms like Skip and Navigation can confuse some non-techie people, according to a surprisingly large number of my site visitors. Then at the bottom of the resources menu there are two similarly styled links: "go direct to main content", "go direct to tutorials menu" with relevant wording at the bottom of the tutorials menu.
Thay way, visitors get the opportunity to do nothing and go straight into the information on the page, or choose to explore either groups of links and/or go to the content/the other menu when they get to the bottom of the list. On another site I use three skip links, one for each of the three discrete areas of the screen.
I do not use visibility:hidden or display:none. Apart from the fact the search engines could penalise the site for so doing, screen-reading software (all those that I know of, that is) does not "see" anything in those styles either.
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Nicole
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RE: Skip Links - 9/3/2005 19:13:12
Hi Donkey,
My understanding is (and I may be incorrect here), that skip links are designed to allow visually impaired viewers to skip over the irrelevent information (irrelevent to them) and jump straight to the info they're after (i.e. the content).
If it appears that a common navigation (or anything else for that matter) appears before the main content, then a screen reader is going to read through that on each page before it gets to the main content.
If you use the Fangs screen reader simulator you should be able to see whether your content is coming after common navigation etc and therefore should include skip links, I use includes a lot and a banner include does come before the content so I've used them. With Frames i'm a little unsure, but i'd imagine they're similar in effect to includes.
I wouldn't worry about any navigation that appears at the bottom of a page as it's likely that the screen reader has already read the content. I also believe that skip links should be used if it's reasonable to do so, in your case it IS reasonable to skip over the main navigation, but to skip over other navigation that appears on individual pages is possibly going to leave the viewer scratching their head if they then can't understand where the individual page links are that you may be referring to in your content.
Now that's even confused me! If a sub-directory has say 5 pages each with those 5 links at the top as well as the main navigation on the left, I wouldn't skip those 5 links as they may be missed otherwise, but I would use a skip link to get over the main navigation.
Hope that helps.
Nicole
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