Hi Jason,
I have a client that wants me to write his navigation mostly as a picture
and then use
image maps to get to the actual links.
That's not necessarily an inaccessible method, not completely anyway. Take
my MapPop [1] for example. It's a list and CSS driven. works with keyboard.
Downside is two-fold. Text cannot be resized, goes blind with images off
(though not to the blind).
As others noted, there are alternatives your client may not be aware of and
could take a liking to if you show him/her.
- Image replacement [2]. The right technique (not one that hides the text
offscreen) is largely accessible. Drawback is the text cannot be resized.
- Embedded images. This can be effective. Drawbacks include not being able
to effectively do a mouseover (though an experimental technique [3] is
available). The other drawback is text resize. preload images or use sprites
for best uncached performance.
- Straight CSS backgrounds. This was provided already but if the client can
be convinced it would be the most accessible method since the text *should*
be able to be enlarged. No example given by me, but what was provided is
fine. Can use a separate image (or part of a larger image like a map)
- Images with text. Text to one side, image to the other, sharing the same
anchor within a list item. No example given.
You might be able to come pretty close to satisfying your client without
have to pull back too much, and without a huge sacfrifice to access.
Hope this helps.
Respectfully,
Mike Cherim
[1] MapPop. This could be close to what's wanted.
http://green-beast.com/experiments/css_map_pop.php
[2] Dave Shea has a list of techniques. I like the Gilder/Levin method.
http://www.mezzoblue.com/tests/revised-image-replacement/
[3] CSS embedded image replacement. This is flawed but I bet if a sprite
was used instead of two images it might just have some merit.
http://green-beast.com/experiments/css_image_replacement.php
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