1.9 Skip navigation links take users to the same location (M)

FIGURE 1.31: Skip to content link on Home page

1.9.1 WCAG 2.4.1 (A) - Desktop, Mobile, iPad

Throughout the website, the ‘skip to content’ and ‘skip to menu’ links take the user to the ‘study’ dropdown menu in the navigation section at the top of the page.

As the navigation section is a repeated block of information and persists throughout the site, users should have the ability to bypass this section to interact with the main content on each page. This is particularly useful for users with motor disabilities who rely on this link to jump straight to the main content.

Best practice states that text should be left aligned to enable partially sighted people to find and read it easily. Therefore using a centre-aligned text for the skip navigation links could cause problems for low vision users navigating the site using the keyboard as they could miss the links entirely. We recognise that RNIB have implemented the skip to link in the same way (e.g. in the centre of screen), however we would still recommend left aligning it.

For other issues relating to bypass blocks, see Skip to content link not rendering correctly on mobile devices (M) .

1.9.2 Recommendation

Change the functionality of the ‘skip to content’ link. When a user triggers the skip to content, the same page anchor should take the user to the main content of the screen they are interacting with (e.g. LJMU on demand heading on the Home page).

Left-align the skip navigation links so that low vision users will be able to see the link as the first link on the page.

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