Offer Redundant Text Links for Image Maps
Widely used to make a page interesting and attractive, image maps allow the designer to control the layout of the page and use fonts not available on many browsers and users computers. Unfortunately, assistive technology cannot always "read" these graphic fonts or elements, making them inaccessible.
Redundant Text Links are repeated words at the bottom or top of a page in HTML format that CAN be read by the assistive technology.
An example of an image map:
This is the recognizable top of the ebay web site. Note that the words "Browse - Sell - Services - Search - Help - Community" are all graphics. When the visitor clicks on each of them, it links to another place in the ebay web.
An example of redundant text links:
The bottom of the page contains redundant text links. These words are in html format, readable by all browsers and assistive technologies to link to another place in the ebay web.