Quick Tips for Controls

Quick Tips for Controls

One of the main concerns with digital accessibility is making sure that people can navigate and interact with your site, regardless of the input or tools they may be using. Controls—which can include links, buttons, and more—are what allow people to interact with areas of the site that require it.

HREF attribute

The href attribute ensures that links are properly exposed or described to screen readers and other technology, so be sure to double-check your page links for the appropriate attribute.

Recognizable links

Links are often also highlighted in some way to stand out from the page – for instance, with a different font color, underlining, etc. Font color alone is not enough, however, to help links be visible and presentable, so be sure that your links are highly visible and recognizable in multiple ways.

Focus states

Links and other controls also need a visible focus style which helps keyboard users navigate to and locate the controls within a page.

Buttons

The button element is critical for submitting forms/data, or for any other on-screen actions (play, pause, etc.) where keyboard focus may not necessarily be shifted.

Skip link

A Skip Link allows users to go directly to the main content of a page and bypass certain elements, such as repeated navigation menus, search widgets, and so on.

New window

If/when a link on your page opens in a new tab or window, be sure to give users advanced warning. Doing so helps people better understand where they are navigating to, and how to get back to the page they were originally on.

These six items will help you make a site that can be interacted with by more users, especially those who may be employing assistive technology to help them on the internet.