http://www.redish.net/content/papers/InteractionsPaperAuthorsVer.pdf
It says:
6. Many want to skip the navigation but do not do so.
Many Web sites include a Skip Navigation link at the beginning of each Web page. Clicking on that link bypasses the global navigation at the top (and left – depending on where the developer has ended the skip navigation). Our participants desperately wanted to not listen to the navigation each time they got to a page. They wanted to get right to the content. But only half of our participants knew what "skip navigation" means. Some ranted to us about the problem of having to listen to the same "stuff" on each page, but they did not choose "skip navigation." Some jumped to the bottom of each page and scanned back up the pages to avoid the "stuff" at the top.
If we think about that, it's not surprising. "Navigation" in this context is Web jargon. In fact, the half that knew "skip navigation" were the 508 consultants, the software engineer, and the highly sophisticated computer users.
Some developers have used the phrase "skip to content" instead of "skip navigation." That seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, it does not work in JAWS because "content" can be a noun or an adjective in English – and JAWS reads "skip to content" with the accent on the second syllable, like the word for "happy." Our participants did not understand that statement at all. And no one used the JAWS keyboard command, N, which the screen reader developers put into the product to meet 508 requirements and do what Skip Navigation does even if the Web site developer did not include a Skip Navigation tag.
Guideline 10. Include a "skip" link at the top of every Web page. Name it "Skip to main content." JAWS reads that correctly as the noun "content" with the accent on the first syllable. That wording was much more meaningful to participants than "skip navigation."
Nick
I was talking to a blind friend over the weekend, and since he uses Jaws screen reading software, the subject of web sites came up. I was observing as how we in the profession were trying to make things easier for people using other devices than a browser to use the web.
“For example, one of the things we’re increasingly doing these days is having a ‘skip to content’ link at the top of the page. In many cases it’s only visible to screen readers.”
Then he floored me. He said “oh yes! I’ve seen those.” (interesting turn of phrase from a guy who’s been blind since birth) “but what are they for? I’ve never used them because I don't know what they do.”
The point is, he didn’t know what the skip-to-content link was for and therefore he wouldn’t use it, lest he find himself a long way away from where he wanted to go (the content) and then have trouble getting back again. Perhaps we need to be a bit more expansive in the link itself. Perhaps instead of “skip to content’ we need to have the link say “skip to the content of this page” or somesuch. A blind reader will hear Jaws say “VISITED LINK.: SKIP TO CONTENT” and thinking about it, it isn’t totally obvious what that does.
****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
