Ian Anderson
Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:24:22 -0800
Kevin Futter wrote:
Anyway, for the benefit of others interested in this thread/topic, the upshot from the above link seems to be that the pipe character (|) is the best compromise currently available as a screen reader-friendly element separator.
I profoundly disagree with that. The vertical bar is the worst thing you can use in a breadcrumb trail, regardless of how it reads in a screen reader. This is conventionally used on the web as a separator for sibling links, and it really doesn't work as a breadcrumb separator for sighted users.
I don't think a list is appropriate markup for breadcrumbs and prefer the conventional "You are in: home > products > foo"
Screen reader users in our user testing on sites with this construct had no problems with it reading "home greater than products greater than foo", and reported that it was a very useful aid.
You should not overlook the vital importance of the visual direction implied by the > character. This is a crucial means of showing that it is a hierarchical relationship. Not all accessibility is about screen reader users after all. The conventional breadcrumb with ">" is a working compromise which has proven to be a good tool in usable sites.
Cheers Ian -- _________________________________________________ zStudio - Web development and accessibility http://zStudio.co.uk Snippetz.net - Online code library File, manage and re-use your code snippets & links http://snippetz.net ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************