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Accessible navigation

Skip links

The web templates provide a skip link that allows users to skip over repeated blocks of navigation to access the content of a page. Without this, navigating through each page would be very tedious for some users. Those using screen readers would have to listen to the content of the page header being read out every time they visit a new page. People who cannot use a mouse would have to press the tab key to get to section navigation or a form located within a page. They would have to do this on every new page they visited.

The image below shows the location of the skip link at the top right of the page. The arrow points to the area on the page that is given focus when the skip link is used. Ensure that you do not remove the skip link.

Screenshot showing placement of skip link on Monash web pages

Site maps, indexes and search

For some disabled users, a site map or site index might provide a less confusing alternative to navigating your site. For others, search may provide an easier means of locating resources. These supplementary navigation features must be provided on all Monash websites.

Keyboard shortcuts

To assist users who navigate using the keyboard, a series of shortcut keys have been implemented in the Monash web templates. These shortcuts use the accesskey attribute to provide keyboard shortcuts for important navigation options. The following accesskeys have been defined in the official Monash University templates and should not be removed.

  • 0 is a shortcut to the Monash home page
  • 1 is a shortcut to the search facility
  • 2 is a shortcut to search the staff directory
  • 3 is a shortcut to the site map
  • 4 is a shortcut to the A-Z index of key Monash web pages
  • 5 is a shortcut to the skip link

To use keyboard shortcuts, hold down the alt key (Mac users need to use the control key) and press the relevant number key. In some browsers, the enter key also needs to be pressed.

Note: accesskeys do not work reliably for all users. Some keys may be reserved by other programs that the user may be running. However, we have provided them as they may be of benefit to some users.

Frames

Framesets are a collection of two or more HTML documents loaded into individual frames to create the appearance of a single page. Frames are not recommended as they are hard to implement well.

If frames are used, ensure the title attribute provided for each frame set is meaningful. People using speech readers or text browsers rely on the title attribute of each frame set to assist in navigating the site.

The title attributes should be descriptive enough to enable users to identify the contents of a particular frame, understand how one frame relates to another, and navigate between the frames that comprise a page.

A noframes element must also be used. It must provide access to the site's content for those using browsers that are not capable of dealing with frames.

<frameset rows="30%,70%">
<frame name="nav" src="nav.html" title="Site navigation" />
<frame name="content" src="content.html" title="Page content" />
<noframes>
<body>
<h1>Our home page</h1>
<ul>
<li>About us </li>
<li>Courses </li>
<li>Teaching </li>
<li>Research </li>
<li>Staff profiles </li>
</ul>
<p>Welcome to our home page</p>
</body>
</noframes>
</frameset>

Image maps

Image maps are images with hotspots that act as links to other pages. Image maps are not recommended for navigation on Monash websites.

  • They take longer to download than simple text navigation.
  • Users cannot enlarge the text on an image if they are having trouble reading it.
  • Depending on how they are designed, image maps may make navigation more complex for users with cognitive disabilities.

Where image maps are used, it is important to ensure the image map is client-side, its hotspots are at least 15 pixels squared and its hot spots have meaningful alt attributes.

<img src="navigation.gif" width="500" height="212" usemap="#navmap" alt="Site navigation" />
<map name="navmap">
<area shape="rect" coords="203,114,258,129" href="/aboutus.html" alt="About us" />
<area shape="rect" coords="277,113,348,129" href="/courses.html" alt="Courses" />
<area shape="rect" coords="364,113,401,128" href="/research.html" alt="Research" />
<area shape="rect" coords="418,114,488,130" href="/staff.html" alt="Staff profiles" />
</map>

Java applets and JavaScript

Do not use Java applets and JavaScript for navigation on Monash websites. For consistency, clarity and simplicity, all Monash websites must use the navigation systems provided by the Monash web templates.

Resources