Content
Accessibility policy
Boatingbeta.com is committed to making the information and resources we provide accessible to all users. We strive to be standards compliant and to follow the principles recommended by the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, practices which should help all our visitors. If you have questions, comments or suggestions for making this site more accessible, please email me!
Tab order and access keys
Most browsers support skipping to links and form fields two ways: using the Tab key and through sequences of key strokes that include access keys assigned by website designers. Access keys can also be used to jump from one page to another.
The sequence of key strokes required to skip through a page or jump to another using access keys depends on the visitor's operating system, browser and the access keys the website designer has assigned. Here are some examples:
Access Key Keystroke Sequences by Browser and Operating System
| Browser and Operating System | Keystroke Sequence |
|---|---|
| Firefox 2.0 or later browser (Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems) | Simultaneously press Shift, Alt and an access key |
| Mozilla (including Firefox earlier than 2.0), Netscape, Galeon and K-Meleon browsers (Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems) | Simultaneously press Alt and an access key |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer browser (Windows operating system) | Simultaneously press Alt and an access key, then release and press Enter |
| Microsoft Internet Explorer browser (Macintosh operating system) | Simultaneously press Ctrl and an access key, then release and press Enter |
| Opera browser (Windows and Macintosh operating systems) | Press Shift then Esc while continuing to press Shift, then release and press an access key |
Boatingbeta.com's tab order and access keys have been chosen to make it possible to skip to important places on each page (or jump to new pages) and then to tab through the links and form fields that follow in the order they appear on the page. The following keys are used throughout the site:
Boatingbeta.com Access Key Assignments
| Access Key | Assignment |
|---|---|
| c | Skip to the content section of the current page |
| n | Skip to the navigation bar |
| i | Skip to the general information section of the navigation bar |
| b | Skip to the online guide book section of the navigation bar |
| t | Skip to the real time flows section of the navigation bar |
| r | Skip to the release schedules section of the navigation bar |
| g | Skip to the Google search tool |
| e | Skip to link to email your questions, comments and suggestions |
| h | Jump to the home page |
| m | Jump to the site map |
| p | Jump to the photos archive |
| f | Jump to the all flows real time stream flow page |
| a | Jump to the accessibility statement |
Navigation aids
- The same tab order and set of access keys are used throughout the site.
- The tab order and set of access keys have been chosen with navigation in mind.
- Access keys link directly to the two most popular pages on the site, the real time stream flow page (access key f) and the photo archive (access key p).
- The first links on each page are to the page's content (access key c) and its navigation bar (access key n).
- The same navigation bar (access key n) is used throughout the site (on most pages it is the left-most column; on single column pages it is a drop down menu directly under the page title).
- The navigation bar is designed to be a mini-site map.
- Almost all the pages are located at most one level from a link on the navigation bar.
- Each subsection of the navigation bar has an access key assigned to it; users can skip to the subsections containing the links to the pages they wish to visit and then to tab down to them (access keys i, b, t and r).
- The navigation bar includes a search tool (access key g).
- The site map (access key m) summarizes each page's content and shows how the site's pages are related.
- The navigation bar is accessible to the 10+% of users with their browser's JavaScript capabilites turned off because it is JavaScript free (in fact the entire site is JavaScript free!).
- The pages are marked up in a way that places each page's content close to the top of its source code.
