How Important is Source Ordered Content Today

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How Important is Source Ordered Content Today

Asia_Expat

1:26 am on Oct 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

The design of the static content on my website is such that all the nav links and sidebars come before the main content in the HTML. I'm thinking about investing some time in redesigning this and using css to place everything in such a way that the content comes before the links and sidebars... but it could potentially cost me a week of work, as I'll have to teach myself some new skills.

In your opinion, is it worth my while?... how relevant is source ordered content today?

lavazza

1:57 am on Oct 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

I think that the important issue is how your pages are delivered to those using devices other than regular browsers, e.g. screen-readers, handhelds etc., i.e. those who can't easily 'jump' to the juicy bits

One simple workaround is to have a skipNav div immediately following the body tag, with CSS @media rules governing the presentations (plural)

e.g
HTML

<body> 
 <div id="skipNav"> 
  <a href="#menu" title="Skip to the Navigation Menu">Navigation</a> 
  <a href="#intro" title="Skip to the Main Content">Main Content</a> 
 </div>

CSS

@media screen { 
 #skipNav { 
  display:none; 
 } 
} 
@media handheld { 
 #skipNav { 
  display:inline; 
 } 
}