University of Washington

University of Washington

Discover what's next. It's the Washington Way.

Discover the UW
Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the West Coast and is one of the preeminent research universities in the world. Learn more
Current Students
The UW is committed to improving the student experience. Plans currently are under way to remodel the Husky Union Building, expand the Ethnic Cultural Center and remodel the Hall Health Primary Care Center. Learn more about Student Life
Future Students
Exceptional learning opportunities are around every corner. Our students have gone to the moon. Mapped the human genome. Broken the sound barrier. Created vaccines. Negotiated peace. What amazing things will UW grads do next? Read more
Faculty & Staff
The University of Washington recruits the best, most diverse and innovative faculty and staff from around the world, encouraging a vibrant intellectual community for our students. We promote access to excellence and strive to inspire through education. Vision & Values
Alumni
No matter where you are, Husky Happy Hours are a great way to plug into the University of Washington's strong network of alumni. Connect with UW grads in a casual setting and meet fellow alumni in your area. Details
NW Neighbors
Visit Husky Central in downtown Seattle. It's a one-stop location for "everything Husky." Store info
UW Medicine

Sample UW Menu: Default

Description

This page uses the navigation menu currently deployed at the UW.

Observations

Aesthetically pleasing
Dropdown menus are mouse-dependent. They can't be triggered by keyboard.
Top-level menu items are all links that target pages where users can probably find most content that's in the dropdown menus, but what's missing is the clean, consistent, well-organized set of choices that's available to mouse users.
Screen reader users have a similar experience to other non-mousers. They can access the top-level menu items, but the submenus are hidden using display:none (screen readers don't read them). Their visibility (style changed to display:block) is triggered solely by mouse events.
Top-level menu items are all marked up as H4 headings, but there's no benefit to doing so for screen reader users, since each of these menu items is read one after the other (it would be more beneficial if the drop-down menus were accessible). Also, H4 is an arbitrary choice within the overall structure of the document, since there are no H1, H2, or H3 headings that precede it.