Intent
The intent of this Success Criterion is to provide a way for the user to orient herself within a set of Web pages, a Web site, or a Web application and find related information.
Benefits
- This Success Criterion is helpful for people with a short attention span who may become confused when following a long series of navigation steps to a Web page. It is also helpful when a user follows a link directly to a page deep within a set of Web pages and needs to navigate that Web site to understand the content of that page or to find more related information.
Examples
-
Links to help user determine their location in a site
A research group is part of an educational department at a university. The group's home page links to the department home page and the university's home page.
-
A breadcrumb trail
A portal Web site organizes topics into categories. As the user navigates through categories and subcategories, a breadcrumb trail shows the current location in the hierarchy of categories. Each page also contains a link to the portal home page.
Related Resources
Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
Techniques
Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the WCAG Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this Success Criterion. However, it is not necessary to use these particular techniques. For information on using other techniques, see Understanding Techniques for WCAG Success Criteria, particularly the "Other Techniques" section.
Sufficient Techniques
Advisory Techniques
Although not required for conformance, the following additional techniques should be considered in order to make content more accessible. Not all techniques can be used or would be effective in all situations.
- PDF14
- PDF17
- Providing a link to the home page or main page (future link)
- Providing an easy-to-read version of information about the organization of a set of Web pages (future link)
- Providing a sign language version of information about the organization of a set of Web pages (future link)
- Providing an easy-to-read summary at the beginning of each section of content (future link)
Failures
The following are common mistakes that are considered failures of this Success Criterion by the WCAG Working Group.