Get rid of those ugly dots in IE

[Agent Dwarf]

Someone sent this to me on AIM:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!-- 
function fixUglyIE()
{
for (a in document.links) document.links[a].onfocus = document.links[a].blur;
}
if (document.all)
{
document.PrxOff_onmousedown = fixUglyIE;
}
// -->
</script>

It removes those dots that surround a link when you are holding down the mouse on a link.

[Impulse]

I love you

I hate those stupid dots.

[Dan Morgan]

Those ugly but there for a reason dots?

Accessibility!

[Bill Posters]

Originally posted by glenplake
Those ugly but there for a reason dots?

Accessibility!

I think you may mean 'usability' in this case.

Isn't this the old IE-specific, (image) link 'focus border' chesnut?

<edit>
anti focus border POV
</edit>

The focus border debate is a can of worms debate which has been discussed here at length before.
Views are often polarised, sometimes heated, but always entertaining.

Imho, the presence of the focus border isn't (or rather shouldn't need to be) a decisive factor on whether a site is usable or not.

It can be legitimately claimed that the focus border can do more harm than good in certain types of sites.

Imho, the bottom line is, if a circumstance and target audience is addressed more appropriately by its removal and/or the site is devised and designed in a way that its removal still leaves behind an interface that is both intuitive and effective, then kill it.

There is no general right or wrong about its use or exclusion.

[mmj]

Using that script may harm accessibility in some situations. If somebody navigates using the keyboard, I predict they won't be able to click on this link because they won't be able to focus on it.

For example, in IE you can navigate to a link and "click" it by pressing tab and shift-tab to select the link you want, and then pressing Enter. Try it. This is obviously more relevant if people need to use voice control, or don't have a mouse, or they have computer where a mouse is not an option.

[want2design]

um ... what dots???

[Dan Morgan]

Originally posted by want2design
um ... what dots???

Press TAB a few times till you see dotted lines hopping from link to link on the page.

Dan

[Omair Haroon]

Thomas is correct. It just happened yesterday night. For some reason my mouse won't work, so I was using Keyboard for all the things and if I had been on such a website using this script, I would definitely had closed the browser.

Come'on. Start accepting the horrific fact

[Darin]

It's not that bad really. You only see the dots for a second and then you go to the page you clicked on.

[Dan Morgan]

Originally posted by Darin
It's not that bad really. You only see the dots for a second and then you go to the page you clicked on.

Unless its a framed page of course, but still no big deal

[Hierophant]

Personally, I happen to like the dots as they show me where I have been. I am a big fan of searching and using the right mouse button to return to the search results. The dots let me remember where I have been.