Comments for the art of web accessibility

Comment on Accessibility of Links by GrindSmart » Blog Archive » Best Resources and Practices for Web Accessibility

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:13:29 +0000

[...] Accessibility of Links [...]

Comment on Accessibility of Links by Joe Dolson

Joe Dolson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:27:03 +0000

This is an important thing to point out — but I’d also like to point out that having a color change only in :hover or :focus states is an equivalent problem; for keyboard navigability or for low vision, it’s very valuable for links to change in some explicit way when they are focused on (removal of underline, etc.)

Thanks for your article!

Comment on Accessibility of Links by Web Axe

Web Axe — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:40:58 +0000

Glad you point this out in its own blog. I’ve been complaining about this issue in my podcasts for a while now.

Comment on Accessibility of Links by Douglas T

Douglas T — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:26:03 +0000

Identifying anything by color alone causes a big problem with accessibility. It’s a pet peeve of mine too.

Comment on Skip Navigation by Steve

Steve — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:48:15 +0000

Thanks for sharing the coding, Joe. Will keep that in reserve the next time I’m doing a design that doesn’t call for visible skip navigation.

And agreed about the issue still bearing discussion — am very glad to see this post resurface thanks to you guys!

Comment on Skip Navigation by Joe Chidzik

Joe Chidzik — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:50:54 +0000

Hi Steve,

The way we have coded the skip links on our site (www.abilitynet.org.uk) is shown here on my handy wiki: http://www.wcag2wiki.com/index.php?title=WCAG2_2.4.1#Implementation

The skip link is positioned off screen, using a negative left margin of -600em. When the link receives the focus, the left margin is removed, the link becomes visible.

I didn’t realise this article was from last year when I submitted my previous response It’s an issue that still needs discussing though, so good it’s being talked about

Comment on Skip Navigation by Joseph O'Connor

Joseph O'Connor — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:06:31 +0000

Wrote code, it was omitted:

Should read:

also placed a direct link to portal login in div id=”offleft”

Comment on Skip Navigation by Joseph O'Connor

Joseph O'Connor — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:04:07 +0000

Check out the Skip to Portal link on http://www.csun.edu – also placed a direct link to portal login in These refinements were in response to diverse user comments during testing and first launch.

Comment on Skip Navigation by Steve

Steve — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:27:37 +0000

Thanks to all of you for the great input. Glad to see an older – but always topical – post get some life.

Do any of you have a recommended means for doing the hidden version? I’ve seen a few methods out there — just wondering if any particular one remains the best all-around, both from a clean code and an accessible standpoint.

Comment on Skip Navigation by Joe Chidzik

Joe Chidzik — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:06:53 +0000

Only wanted to add to Patrick’s great summing up above; in addition to using the :focus attribute to make the link visible, using the :active alongside :focus ensures that IE6\IE7 also work with this method (afaik they ignore the :focus attribute, or at least don’t work with it correctly, but do work with the :active method).

I agree that often designers are unkeen to clutter up pages with additional links, but using the method mentione, of hiding skip links, and only displaying then when they receive the focus, should make everyone happy. Keyboard users can see the link when it becomes visible, and designers have their clean homepage.

@slger
any more than 3 skip links is getting to be counter productive really; skip links are meant to save keypresses! And yes, better design can prevent needing these additional skip links