How do I?

[Anonymous]

How do I get rid of the dotted line that surrounds image links?

Many thanks.

 

[Steve Pugh]

How do I get rid of the dotted line that surrounds image links?

Unplug your mouse. Now use your keyboard to navigate your web page.
Do you still want to get rid of those dotted outlines?

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Unplug your mouse. Now use your keyboard to navigate your web page.
Do you still want to get rid of those dotted outlines?

Steve

I'm sorry I thought this was a news group to ask questions! The dots don't
appear until after you, click on the link, and I also state above the images
please click on small image to enlarge, so people know they are links. So
what is so bad about it? Maybe if you had given a reason of why it's not
good to do it, instead of patronising, it maybe a little more helpful. Most
people ask these questions because they are new to html, css etc.

You learn through asking questions! I'm wish I hadn't bothered to ask now.

 

[Tonnie]

I'm sorry I thought this was a news group to ask questions! The dots don't
appear until after you, click on the link, and I also state above the images
please click on small image to enlarge, so people know they are links. So
what is so bad about it? Maybe if you had given a reason of why it's not
good to do it, instead of patronising, it maybe a little more helpful. Most
people ask these questions because they are new to html, css etc.

You learn through asking questions! I'm wish I hadn't bothered to ask now.

You did get a perfect answer. Unfortunatly you don't understand it.

The dotted line is there to tell you wich link has got the 'focus'.
You do not want to remove it.


Tonnie

 

[Bernhard Sturm]

I'm sorry I thought this was a news group to ask questions! The dots don't
appear until after you, click on the link, and I also state above the images
please click on small image to enlarge, so people know they are links. So
what is so bad about it? Maybe if you had given a reason of why it's not
good to do it, instead of patronising, it maybe a little more helpful. Most
people ask these questions because they are new to html, css etc.

You learn through asking questions! I'm wish I hadn't bothered to ask now.

you are right.. and the above answer did not help at all. and I would
consider it rather amateurish to reply in such a way. I remember that
there is a js trick to apply to get rid of the rubber lines in IE. Even
DW has this function somewhere.. hold on a second... okay.. here we go:

there was already a thread on this topic, and the answer was:

if(document.all)self.blur(); (applied to the href of the link)

check:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J5C82514A
(google groups)

HTH

bernhard

 

[Alan Cole]

How do I get rid of the dotted line that surrounds image links?

Many thanks.

Have you got the URL of a page that displays this so that we can see
whats putting them there.... Until we know that we can't tell you how to
get rid of them.

Al.

 

[Bernhard Sturm]

You did get a perfect answer. Unfortunatly you don't understand it.

by providing sarcastic answers to a serious question you will never gain
respect... if there is an existing method to get rid of the lines, why
not sharing this knowledge with others?
we are not talking about building atomic bombs. so let him decide wether
this is of any use or not.

The dotted line is there to tell you wich link has got the 'focus'.
You do not want to remove it.

there are cases where it's not necessary to know which element has the
focus. think on a menu where you intentially click on a link. No need to
tell the user, that the link he/she has clicked is really the link
he/she wanted to click.

bernhard

 

[Steve Pugh]

I'm sorry I thought this was a news group to ask questions!

No, it's one in which to hold discussions. If some questions get
answered along the way that's a bonus.

The dots don't appear until after you, click on the link,

If your using a mouse.
Obviously you didn't even bother to try the exercise I suggested.

and I also state above the images
please click on small image to enlarge, so people know they are links. So
what is so bad about it?

Try the exercise I suggested.

Maybe if you had given a reason of why it's not
good to do it, instead of patronising, it maybe a little more helpful. Most
people ask these questions because they are new to html, css etc.

OKay, as you're too lazy to try a simple exercise, I will spell it out
for you. The dotted outline around links (text or images) indicates
the focus. Focus is given to a link when you click on it with a mouse,
but also when you navigate to it with the keyboard (in IE use the tab
key, in Opera use one of several methods). If you remove the dotted
outline then you remove the method by which keyboard users tell where
they are in the page.

You learn through asking questions! I'm wish I hadn't bothered to ask now.

Okay. Your loss. Maybe if you'd tried the exercise I'd suggested you
would have learnt something without needing to be spoon fed the
answers.

Steve

 

[nice.guy.nige]

While the city slept, Bernhard Sturm ([email protected]) feverishly
typed...
[focus indicators]

by providing sarcastic answers to a serious question you will never
gain respect...

IMO Steve didn't give a sarcastic answer. He gave a good answer, suggesting
that the OP try navigating his/her web page with the keyboard instead of the
mouse, and whether the OP would then still like to remove the focus
indicators.

there are cases where it's not necessary to know which element has the
focus.

Are there? Tell that to someone who doesn't use a point-and-click device
(eg. mouse) to navigate the web.

think on a menu where you intentially click on a link. No need
to tell the user, that the link he/she has clicked is really the link
he/she wanted to click.

But there is still a need to tell the user who doesn't use a point-and-click
device which item has the focus, so they know when to activate the link they
want to use.

Cheers.
Nige

 

[Bernhard Sturm]

Okay. Your loss. Maybe if you'd tried the exercise I'd suggested you
would have learnt something without needing to be spoon fed the
answers.

steve: would you please check out this tech note once, and maybe
apologize by the OP?

http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_13759

cheers
bernhard

 

[nice.guy.nige]

While the city slept, Bernhard Sturm ([email protected]) feverishly
typed...

if(document.all)self.blur(); (applied to the href of the link)

And how will this help people who don't use a point-and-click device to
navigate the web? They rely on the focus indicator so they know which link
currently has focus.

check:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?J5C82514A
(google groups)

A short thread from clj and nearly 6 years old... web development ethos has
moved on quite a bit since then, especially the bits to do with
accessibility.

Cheers,
Nige

 

[Kate]

now.

You did get a perfect answer. Unfortunatly you don't understand it.

The dotted line is there to tell you wich link has got the 'focus'.
You do not want to remove it.


Tonnie

No I'm sorry, you have given me a straight forward answer to a straight
forward question, Mr Sturm was patronising. Thank you for explaining this
though. So what you are saying is, it is much like the active text link.
Is that right?

 

[Bernhard Sturm]

While the city slept, Bernhard Sturm ([email protected]) feverishly
typed...
[focus indicators]

by providing sarcastic answers to a serious question you will never
gain respect...

IMO Steve didn't give a sarcastic answer. He gave a good answer, suggesting
that the OP try navigating his/her web page with the keyboard instead of the
mouse, and whether the OP would then still like to remove the focus
indicators.

there are cases where it's not necessary to know which element has the
focus.

Are there? Tell that to someone who doesn't use a point-and-click device
(eg. mouse) to navigate the web.

of course.. it might be that your page design is build this way.
consider it a bad page design, but there are cases where you might want
to get rid of the lines. Now if you know how to get rid of the lines,
why not sharing this knowledge with someone who doesn't know it?
I am not the guy who is going to enforce accessibility issues in this NG
to everybody else, and beginning to discuss accessibility issues with
losing dotted focus lines, is not a very good starting point

But there is still a need to tell the user who doesn't use a point-and-click
device which item has the focus, so they know when to activate the link they
want to use.

of course. it is. but what if the OP is going to build a site that is
ONLY accessible by someone having a point-and-click device (because it's
an intranet solution and he KNOWS that nobody is using only the
keyboard, or because the site will NOT work without a point-and-click
device)? think of a DHTML map application for instance. or a DHTML image
processing solution. why not allowing others to decide what is
applicable for their particular cases and problems?

cheers
bernhard

 

[Kate]

Have you got the URL of a page that displays this so that we can see
whats putting them there.... Until we know that we can't tell you how to
get rid of them.

Sorry had to change computer, laptop keeps crashing.

No sorry I haven't I wanted to get the site spot on and validate before I
uploaded it.

 

[Steve Pugh]

you are right.. and the above answer did not help at all.

It might have helped to prevent someone breaking the usability of
their web site. Unlike your answer which if implemented will do
exactly that.

and I would consider it rather amateurish to reply in such a way.

Unlike giving out bad advice without warning about its side effects?

I remember that
there is a js trick to apply to get rid of the rubber lines in IE. Even
DW has this function somewhere.. hold on a second... okay.. here we go:

there was already a thread on this topic, and the answer was:

Many threads in fact. I wonder why the OP didn't check Google and find
them?

if(document.all)self.blur(); (applied to the href of the link)

Yuck. If you're going to use JS then try to use a solution that
doesn't involve adding extra code to every single <a> element in the
page.

Something like this in an external script file linked to from every
page (probably still lots of room for improvement in this script):

function hideFocus(evt) {
evt = (evt) ? evt : ((event) ? event : null);
if (evt) {
var elem = (evt.target) ? evt.target : ((evt.srcElement) ?
evt.srcElement : null);
if (elem) {
elem = (elem.tagName != 'A') ? elem.parentNode : elem;
if (elem.tagName == 'A'){elem.blur();}
}
}
}
document.onclick = hideFocus;

Because this is only triggered by the onclick event it shouldn't hide
the focus from keyboard users, at least not until the link is clicked
- if a keyboard use tabs to a link, clicks it and the goes back he
won't be able to continue tabbing from where he was before, which
sucks for him. So still not a good idea.

Steve

 

[Kate]

steve: would you please check out this tech note once, and maybe
apologize by the OP?

http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_13759

cheers
bernhard

Many thanks Bernhard I have noted the link, and I will also do a little more
research before I use it. I didn't realise how it would affect those
without a mouse.

Have a good day!

 

[Steve Pugh]

steve: would you please check out this tech note once,
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_13759

Yikes, what does Macromedia do to make its pages so slow to load?
Anyway, that seems to say exactly the same as I said - the focus
rectangles are there for a reason.

and maybe apologize by the OP?

There's no need for the OP to apologise.

Steve

 

[Bernhard Sturm]

While the city slept, Bernhard Sturm ([email protected]) feverishly
typed...




And how will this help people who don't use a point-and-click device to
navigate the web? They rely on the focus indicator so they know which link
currently has focus.

hmm sorry.. I thought this is the NG about HTML so I did not pay much
attention to the accessibility issue, because I assumed the OP knows
what he/she is going to do. The OPs question was about getting rid of
the dotted lines... I think he/she has now enough information to solve
the problem. together with your comments, and together with my hint to
the solution it should be possible for her/him to have it solved.

so take this a my apology to have let accessibility issue drop out of my
eyesight (what a shame for me, as we build websites for governmental
departments where accessibility is a big issue, but we already had the
case, where we had to get rid of those lines as well ;-)

cheers
bernhard

 

[Bernhard Sturm]

Yikes, what does Macromedia do to make its pages so slow to load?

I assume they use their special tailored scripts such as:
http://www.macromedia.com/js/global.js
or
http://www.macromedia.com/js/globalnav.js

in order to have the tweened menues.... THIS would be an accessibility
issue! terrible.

Anyway, that seems to say exactly the same as I said - the focus
rectangles are there for a reason.

yes.. I think if we would have given the OP this link in the first place
we would have spared ourselves some time.

There's no need for the OP to apologise.

oh my English is pretty bad i know.. so apologise for that (it's not my
mothertongue as you have noticed...)

no harm intended...

cheers
bernhard

 

[Tonnie]

by providing sarcastic answers to a serious question you will never gain
respect...

Where did i go wrong? Is the answer i gave sarcastic, or do _you_ think
it is ment sarcastic?

if there is an existing method to get rid of the lines, why

not sharing this knowledge with others?
we are not talking about building atomic bombs. so let him decide wether
this is of any use or not.


there are cases where it's not necessary to know which element has the
focus. think on a menu where you intentially click on a link. No need to
tell the user, that the link he/she has clicked is really the link
he/she wanted to click.

Why remove a feature that was implemented for accessibility?