Accessibility Tips » hidden http://accessibilitytips.com A collection of tips, guidance and practical suggestions in developing accessible websites Sat, 02 May 2009 05:07:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Avoiding visibility hidden http://accessibilitytips.com/2008/03/05/avoiding-visibility-hidden/ http://accessibilitytips.com/2008/03/05/avoiding-visibility-hidden/#comments Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:06:16 +0000 Isofarro http://www.wp-dev.isolutia.com/?p=10 Hiding content from view with visibility: hidden in many cases prevents the screenreader from reading the content, so content styled this way is inaccessible. This technique is not appropriate for hiding content on screen because no screenspace is saved by styling this way – the visitor is left looking at a blank region the size of the hidden content.

In a number of cases visibility: hidden is used in conjunction with positioning the content offscreen (position: absolute; left: -999em;). This is unnecessary since positioning content off the viewport is sufficient to hide the content, and the visibility: hidden makes the content unavailable to screen readers.

There’s no reason to use visibility: hidden. Positioning the content offscreen is safer and has far less accessibility implications. If you fee that visibility: hidden is appropriate for your requirements, I strongly recommend revisiting the requirement and finding an altogether different solution.

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