Repeated navigation needs a skip-in
Aliases: skip to main · bypass blocks · skip link
What it is
When every page wears the same nav, toolbar and announcement bar at the top, a keyboard user’s first job on a new page is to press through that block again. Bypass blocks (skip navigation) put an entry at the front of the sequence so a person can reach this page’s main content in one move, instead of treating the shared chrome as a toll.
Headings and landmarks give screen-reader users another jump. This leaf is the tax on the Tab sequence: people who use a keyboard and no reader should not pay for the shell either.
Why it happens
Tab is linear. Twenty links in the shared nav means twenty presses per page-change before the first control in the body. The shorter the task, the worse the tax: a two- or three-key reply or setting change is preceded by a full walk of global chrome. Pointer users land their eyes on the main region and never feel the toll, so it often does not exist in design review.
Repeated means “the same set of entries most pages will walk again”, not “any link that appears twice”. An in-page table of contents is not chrome tax; site-wide header, sidebar, language switch and cookie bar are. The entry is usually “Skip to main content”; it can also be a small set (skip nav / skip toolbar). The principle is the same: lift the repeated prefix off the mandatory path.
Studying it
Pick an inner page, Tab in from the address bar, count keys until the first control in main content. Repeat on another page of the same template; the counts should be close — the tax is the shell, not the page. With a skip-in, the count after using it should approach the length of main content itself, not shell plus content.
Independent variables: number of chrome links, whether a skip exists, whether a second repeated toolbar sits before main. Dependent variables: Tabs to reach main, whether users find and use the entry.
Switch scanning inflates the same tax because every choice is expensive; Tab count is still a usable proxy, scanning hardware is not required to conclude.
Where it stops holding
If a single-page app changes “pages” without remounting chrome and the user is already in main, do not yank focus back to the skip link on every route. Full reload, inbound links from outside, and entry from a sign-in page re-levy the tax; the entry must still be there. A tiny marketing landing page with three or four links gains little from skip; back-offices, doc sites and stores with stable chrome and many inner pages are this criterion’s home ground. Landmarks without a tabbable skip let reader users jump and leave keyboard users paying — coverage is incomplete.
Applying it
- Put a “Skip to main content” (or equivalent) entry at the front of the page sequence, targeting this page’s main container.
- Give main content a real destination node that receives the jump, not merely a visually first block of prose.
- How to check: the first Tab from the address bar should hit the skip entry; after activating it, the next Tab should enter main, not the next link in the header.