Web .5 and the Tabbed Experience
Some time ago we purchased a (dumb-as-ass) Acer laptop with a pre-installed Windows Vista. Don’t get me started over not getting an installation CD and the inflated price of buying this on credit. I personally don’t do credit and rue the day I buckled to this pressure.
The main issue is that since day 1 the laptop has had some kind of almost constant (but still intermittent) problem with clicking links on web pages. It takes a lot more effort to navigate.
So, on the laptop, I’m generally a tabbing user of your website. I’m coming to terms with a limited web - I’d call it Web .5 because its less than the Web 1.0 that is usually my minimum experience. And, honestly, I’ve gained a new-found disdain for drop down lists, large navigation pages, and stupidly designed page content. Oh God please make my life easier by using the active and focus pseudo classes.
Seriously, I think most people don’t really get how much of a pain in the arse it is to navigate through sites using the tab key if there aren’t any skip links. Its a serious anus-festivale to fast sprint a tab through a 50 link sidebar only to go 1 or 2 links too far and not know how to get back to that link without undergoing another complete cycle of manic-tab-fest.
Where Web 1.0 is an empty shop and nobody to serve you, Web .5 is about struggling with the door to get in and banging your head on the counter as you operate the cash register on the floor. Its easy to pass this over and kind of ignore the users who tab - but I could well be a potential sale. And its currently not my choice.
Are you failing this audience, too? Sometimes users don’t have the luxury of that mouse.
