Last modified: 2012-09-30 00:18:00 UTC
The jump-to nav links are now apparently no longer hidden and then shown again trough preference by using user CSS, but their inclusion in the HTML is actually dependent on your preferences. This is fine I guess, but the skins still have the CSS that hides the links by default, so now even if you enable them, they are still not visible. It seems that nostalgia doesn't include them at all btw. even if you have the the preference option enabled. But that might not be a regression.
see also bug 34504
From IRC: <Krinkle> I think it's either a dupe of that bug I mentioned, or something I don't understood correctly from the summary <Krinkle> thedj: might be able to elaborate Could you elaborate?
Hmm, i seem to have misinterpreted the description of the feature a bit. They are not supposed to be visible on Vector even with the option on it seems.... However, for chick, it was visible before as detailed here: "These links are normally hidden, except under the Myskin, Chick or Classic skins;" And apparently they are no also hidden in those skins. Nostalgia doesn't seem to support the feature at all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)&oldid=479878448#.22Jump_to.22_accessibility_links_have_vanished_from_the_.22Chick.22_skin.3F "These links are normally hidden, except under the Myskin, Chick or Classic skins;" https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Preferences#Advanced_options
That exception in the Meta help section was probably documentated as an observation, not as a feature. They are meant for accessibility, not for 'regular display'. So are you okay with invalid/wontfix ?
Since classic/chick are linear skins (no sidebar, etc.) would it not be reasonable to display the "jump to" links, to aid usability? Anyone using those skins would likely be using them for accessibility reasons anyway.
The purpose of jump-to links is for blind users and users with motor disabilities. They use <tab> to jump through links and these links (Known as "Skip links" outside of MediaWiki) allow them to skip path large swaths of links instead of tabbing through the entire navigation. For blind users visibility is irrelevant. As long as we use something like an overflow trick to hide the links instead of using display: none; (since that will break modern screen readers that use css) it doesn't matter if the links are visible or not since the user cannot see and the screen reader can read the text. For users with motor disabilities it's helpful for the links to be visible when in use. These users do not look for the jump links, they unconditionally use <tab> to access links on the page. This means that jump links only need to be visible when they are focused, they do not need to be always-on. I already introduced special jump links handling into MediaWiki awhile ago. We now hide jump-links inside all skins using overflow+height so that screen readers can see the links. And there is a new js module loaded on all pages which watches for focus and blur events within .mw-jump and will show/hide the jump links automatically. This means that the jump links will be hidden for normal users and will become visible when a user tabs into them and actually needs to see them. So I'm going to go ahead and INVALID this now.
