Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
Hmmm...not necessarily. Many of the screen reader users I've observed and spoken to get up a list of headings, which gives far more information about the current document than links, which traditionally point to *other things*. Why would I get up a list of links to know what the current page is about, unless I knew for a fact that those links were all in-page links?
I think the issue is that the headings list is verging on being an advanced feature. I have seen many users who did not use the headings list in Jaws, but most Jaws users I have seen used the links list and the Tab key as the primary means of navigating and gaining an overview of content. Quite frustratingly, I might add, in some cases. Many users did not know of or use the H key or numeral keys to navigate headings either.
It's just something to be aware of - we give people HTML that's structured to make their life easier, and they often don't take advantage of it.
It's analogous to general users of Word. How many people who use the software all day still space paragraphs using Carriage Returns instead of paragraph spacing? Advanced users use the features of their software appropriately; many users do not. They're often not properly trained on it; their current practices work, more or less, so they are not motivated to experiment and extend their knowledge.
I have met only one Jaws user who knew the keyboard shortcut to read data table headers, for example.
Anyway, off to bed 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 ******************************************************
