(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.

Why do navigational links present impediments to screen readers and other types of assistive technologies?
This provision provides a method to facilitate the easy tracking of page content that provides users of assistive technology the option to skip repetitive navigation links. Web developers routinely place a host of routine navigational links at a standard location – often across the top, bottom, or side of a page. If a nondisabled user returns to a web page and knows that he or she wants to view the contents of that particular page instead of selecting a navigation link to go to another page, he or she may simply look past the links and begin reading wherever the desired text is located. For those who use screen readers or other types of assistive technologies, however, it can be a tedious and time-consuming chore to wait for the assistive technology to work through and announce each of the standard navigational links before getting to the intended location. In order to alleviate this problem, the section 508 rule requires that when repetitive navigational links are used, there must be a mechanism for users to skip repetitive navigational links.

Example: USDA Target Center and DOL websites use the Skip Repetitive Navigational Links.

http://www.usda.gov/oo/target

A screen print of the US Department of Agriculture TARGET Center Home page.

http://www.dol.gov/odep/welcome.html

A screen print of the US Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy Home page.

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Skip Navigation Links

If the page has a top or side border, or navigation links at the top or side of the page, provide a means to skip to the main information of the page. In FrontPage, the easiest way to meet this criterion is to create a "main" bookmark just before the main header of the page. To create a bookmark, click where you want the bookmark to go, then choose insert, bookmark. Name the bookmark "main" or "main information," if you name it anything else rating programs will not recognize it as meeting this criterion. Next, return to the top of the page and insert a link. Choose "link to a place in this document" from the left of the link dialog box in FrontPage 2002 (or "bookmark" in earlier versions) and then select the "main" bookmark. Choose "OK."

Notes on skip links: If the page you are working on has a top border of some sort, I have found that the Texas A&M at Galveston logo or some other top most picture works well for this since it eliminates the unaesthetic link at the top of a site, still meets the criteria for assessability readers, and most people who can see would not normally try to click in that region.