Site navigation

Navigation Accessibility 2: Accessing Page Content

Roger Hudson, August 2004

Introduction

This is the second article about improving the accessibility of site navigation. It follows on from Navigation Accessibility 1: Menus and Links.

"Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms - orientation information, navigation bars, a site map etc. - to increase the likelihood that a person will find what they are looking for at a site."
Web Content Accessibility Guideline 13

Logical and consistent navigation

A logical and consistent navigation system will help all users move from page to page within a site and to find what they want.

For the able-bodied user, the lack of navigational consistency is likely to be an irritant, but most will still be able to use the site since they are able to quickly scan a page looking for the information and navigation links they require.

For people with disabilities however, poorly designed navigation can result in a site being effectively inaccessible. The visually impaired user may have difficulty in locating the navigational elements on the page; a person with physical motor skill problems may not be able to move focus to the navigation or find it difficult to bypass the navigation to get to the content of the page; and, people with cognitive and learning difficulties may become so frustrated with attempting to unravel the mysteries of the navigation system that they give up on the site altogether.

Accessing page content

Helping the user locate and go to a Web page is crucial to site navigation, but it is only part of the story. Once the user has arrived at the page they should then be able to easily access the content it contains. This is not likely to be problem for an able-bodied person who can use a mouse and quickly scan the content of the page.

Skip links

On most web pages the global and local navigation items are presented at the top and/or the left side the page. This means that screen reader users will have to negotiate all the navigation items before they can access the content information on the page. Also, a user who is dependent on a switching device, such as a pressure switch in a headrest or a 'suck -puff' straw, will have to physically activate the device many times as they tab though all the links on their way to the page content.

An increasing number of sites are providing (skip) links at the top of each page that will allow users to bypass sections of the page. The most common is, "Skip to content" where the target for the link is just above the main content of the page. This allows the user to skip past banner headings and the global navigation at the top of the page as well as any local navigation items that might be presented in a left hand column. It is worth noting that since the use of skip links is relatively new at this stage, some screen reader users find them disorientating. This appears to be particularly so when the skip link bypasses the local or area navigation on the page.

One some sites, skip links are intentionally not displayed on the screen. Hidden skip links are still useful for screen reader users who can hear the links, but offer no benefit to sighted users of the web who rely on switching devices.

Headings

The information on most Web pages is presented within a defined structure that uses a main heading at the top followed by a series of sub headings. Users with cognitive and learning difficulties often depend on a consistent page structure within a site to orientate themselves and to provide a context for the information on the page.

The Web Content Accessibility Guideline advises developers to markup documents with the proper structural elements.

"Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification. [Priority 2] For example, in HTML, use H2 to indicate a subsection of H1."
WCAG Checkpoint 3.5

Sometimes developers use font commands or extensions of CSS paragraph styles (rather than H1, H2 etc) to define the presentation of headings. While this practice does not affect the usefulness of the headings for sighted users of the site, the usability of the site for screen reader users is significantly diminished.

Screen readers rely on header tags to determine the structure of a Web page. JAWS for example, tells the user how many links and headings there are on a page when it loads and will allow the user to quickly determine the content areas of the page by skipping from one heading to the next.

Users with cognitive disabilities can use structure (chapter titles, headers, etc.) to obtain a greater context for the text that follows them. They also provide warning of a change in context and help reorient the user to the new focus.

Navigation alternatives

Providing a variety of navigational alternatives will make it easier for all people to use a site. People with different levels of skill or background knowledge may require different navigation mechanism to help them find the information they require.

Site map

A site map is one of the most important ways of providing navigational assistance for site users. A site map should be more than just a series of links, which allow users to jump to pages deep within a site. It should provide an overview of the hierarchal structure of the site enabling a user to see the location of each page in relation to the other pages of the site.

Keyboard Shortcuts (or Access keys)

Access keys allow sites to include keyboard shortcuts for commonly used links and functions. Most of the widely used browsers now support the access key facility. Those browsers that don't support access keys just ignore them without causing any problems

Access keys for the Web function in a similar way to common keyboard shortcuts, for example with Windows, alt+f for the file drop menu and alt+s for save. With access keys however, you define the command and what it does.

Windows and Macintosh operating systems have different keyboard controls for using access key attributes. For example if the access key for the homepage link is 1, when using Windows you would hold down ALT and type 1 for this key, while with Macintosh it would be CTL (control) and 1. With some browsers, ALT +key will automatically take you to the selected page, with others you may also need to press 'Enter' to activate your selection.

Both letters and numbers can used to define the access key character. However, if the access key character used is the same as a standard built-in browser shortcut (eg ALT+f for file) then the access key may disable a basic function that users have grown to rely on. As a result, it is advisable to use just numbers for access key characters.

The United Kingdom Government extensively promotes the use of access keys. The following list of access keys is based on those used in the UK and all have been tested for possible conflicts with commonly used assistive technologies.

Alt + 1 - Home page
Alt + 3 - Site map
Alt + 4 - Search
Alt + 5 - Common Questions
Alt + 6 - Help
Alt + 9 - Feedback form

Search

An effective search facility will allow users to search a site according to their needs and using terminology familiar to them. A search function should allow users with different Web and language skills to undertake a search and then interpret the results in a meaningful way.

People with cognitive disabilities may find it easier to use a search facility to ask for what they want rather than trying to determine the location of the information from the navigation hierarchy provided by a site. Similarly, users with impaired vision may find search techniques that fetch everything that relates to a topic of interest to be easier than techniques that require them to scan lists or pages for the items.

References And Additional Information

Books

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