accessibility-guidelines

This document is in beta. Help us by reporting issues via Github or email.

Back to the overview page

Consistent navigation

Navigation links that appear on multiple pages must appear in the same order.

When navigation links are repeated on multiple pages, the order in which they appear on each page should be consistent.

---

On this page:

• Requirements
• More info

---

Requirements

• Navigational items that are repeated on multiple pages of a website (e.g. Search field, social media links, related links panels) are positioned in a consistent order across the website/app.

Why?

This makes it easier for people to learn how to navigate the website/app, and it enables people to develop strategies (like using screen reader shortcuts)for more efficient navigation.

Official wording in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

3.2.3 Consistent Navigation: Navigational mechanisms that are repeated on multiple Web pages within a set of Web pages occur in the same relative order each time they are repeated, unless a change is initiated by the user. (Level AA)

See the W3C’s detailed explanation of this guideline with techniques and examples.

---

More info

Sources

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1
• Government Digital Service WCAG 2.1 Primer
• Barclays’ Accessibility Design Standards

Contribute

This document is in beta. Help us by reporting issues via Github or email.

This site is open source. Improve this page.