Assistive skip links format error
Asked by Ingmar Van Glabbeek:

On Confluence 6.15.4

Based on the 404 reports from our pages it looks like the assitive skip link to #title-heading is broken.

The folllowing set of links are defined for each page, and the first #title-heading is malformed due to the leading "\\" on some pages. This is impacting SEO.

There seems to be no way to disable this feature or a manual override that fixes it.

```
<ul id="assistive-skip-links" class="assistive">	<li><a href="view-source:https://docs.infoblox.com#title-heading">Skip to content</a></li>	<li><a href="view-source:https://docs.infoblox.com/display/BloxOneThreatDefense#breadcrumbs">Skip to breadcrumbs</a></li>	<li><a href="view-source:https://docs.infoblox.com/display/BloxOneThreatDefense#header-menu-bar">Skip to header menu</a></li>	<li><a href="view-source:https://docs.infoblox.com/display/BloxOneThreatDefense#navigation">Skip to action menu</a></li>	<li><a href="view-source:https://docs.infoblox.com/display/BloxOneThreatDefense#quick-search-query">Skip to quick search</a></li></ul>??
```


Answers:
author: Ingmar Van Glabbeek
body: Following change is a workaround for this issue:

`org.apache.tomcat.util.buf.UDecoder.ALLOW_ENCODED_SLASH=true`

This will allow the slash in that broken element to be correctly interpreted.


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Ingmar,

Thank you for contacting us about this.

I've found that there's an existing bug due to the skip links not working properly:

* [CONFSERVER-54039](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-54039) *Section 508 - Broken skip links*

This has been included in this other request to get Confluence up to 508 Compliance. The developers will document their progress on this thread:

* [CONFSERVER-12383](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-12383) *Section 508 Compliance for Confluence (VPAT)*

There is not currently a workaround, but please keep an eye on those threads as well as this Community post; if anyone has a solution that has worked for them, it will be added there.

Regards,

Shannon

comments: author: Ingmar Van Glabbeek
body: [@Shannon S](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/510046) the issue you linked is related but not identical to what I am reporting here. The problem I see is that there is a malformed hidden link. Notice the \\ prior to #

I was unable to find any bugreports on the matter.

```
<li><a href="view-source:https://docs.infoblox.com#title-heading">Skip to content</a></li>
```


author: Shannon S
body: Ingmar,

In general, the ticket was about broken skip links. Any issues regarding broken skip links are related to section 508 compliance, which will be addressed in that 2nd bug ticket ([CONFSERVER-12383](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-12383)).

I hope that's clear, but let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Shannon


author: Ingmar Van Glabbeek
body: Following change is a workaround for this issue:

`org.apache.tomcat.util.buf.UDecoder.ALLOW_ENCODED_SLASH=true`

This will allow the slash in that broken element to be correctly interpreted.

[@Shannon S](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/510046) can this be included in the next release if no fix for the root cause is included?


author: Shannon S
body: Ingmar,

Thank you for sharing that workaround. I've included it in the bug ticket I raised in an internal comment to Atlassian staff in order to suggest it as a workaround.

I am not in the development team myself, so I can't say for sure if the team will include it in the next release, but I've forwarded that on so they can consider it when working on a fix for this bug.

Thank you again, and take care.

Regards,

Shannon


Tags: confluence-server

server