Guideline 2.4: Focus on Information Architecture

On Principle 2: Operable

Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are

Finding the content and keeping track of our location are usually difficult tasks for people with disabilities, especially for those who use screen reader or cognitive disabilities. So these criteria are made for them.

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Limit the number of links per page
  • Provide mechanisms to navigate to different sections of the content of a Web page
  • Make links visually distinct

Criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks

A mechanism is available to bypass blocks of content that are repeated on multiple Web pages.

How to. Mandatory techniques

Create links to skip blocks of repeated material

Choose one of these possibilities:

  • Add a link at the top of each page that goes directly to the main content area
  • Add a link at the beginning of a block of repeated content to go to the end of the block
  • Add links at the top of the page to each area of the content
Group blocks of repeated material in a way that can be skipped

Choose one of these possibilities:

  • Provide heading elements at the beginning of each section of content
  • Uee structural elements to group links
  • Use frame elements to group blocks of repeated material and the title attribute of the frame and iframe elements
  • Use an expandable and collapsible menu to bypass block of content

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Provide keyboard access to important links and form controls
  • Provide skip links to enhance page navigation
  • Provide access keys
  • Use accessibility supported technologies which allow structured navigation by user agents and assistive technologies
  • Position content based on structural markup

Criterion 2.4.2 Page Titled

Web pages have titles that describe topic or purpose

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Provide descriptive titles for Web pages and provide a title to each web page

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Identify a Web page’s relationship to a larger collection of Web pages
  • Use a technology-specific technique
  • Identify the subject of the Web page
  • Use ARIA described by property to provide a descriptive, programmatically determined label
  • Provide a meaningful name for
  • Identify frames
  • Use unique titles for Web pages
  • Provide a descriptive top-level page heading

Common Failures

  • The title of the Web page don’t identify the contents like “Untitled Document” or similar;
  • Using he same title for different pages

Criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order

If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Place the interactive elements in an order that follows sequences and relationships within the content
  • Give focus to elements in an order that follows sequences and relationships within the content. Choose one of these possibilities:
    • Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects
    • Make the DOM order match the visual order
  • Change a Web page dynamically
    • Insert dynamic content into the Document Object Model immediately following its trigger element
    • Create Custom Dialogs in a Device Independent Way
    • Reorder page sections Use the Document Object Model

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Provide a highly visible highlighting mechanism for links or controls when they receive keyboard focus
  • Create alternative presentation orders

Common Failures

  • Using tabindex to create a tab order that does not preserve meaning and operability
  • Using dialogs or menus that are not adjacent to their trigger control in the sequential navigation order

Criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)

The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Provide link text that describes the purpose of a link, a link for anchor elements or area elements of image maps
  • Allow the user to choose short or long link text by a control near the beginning of the Web page that changes the link text or changing the link text by scripting
  • Identify the purpose of a link using link text combined with the text of the enclosing sentence
  • Provide a supplemental description of the purpose of a link with the title or hiding a portion of the link text by css.
  • Identify the purpose of a link using link text combined with programmatically determined link context. Choose one of these options:
    • Enclosing list item
    • Enclosing paragraph
    • HEnclosing table cell and associated table headings
    • Preceding heading element
    • In a nested list, link text combined with the parent list item under which the list is nested

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Combining adjacent image and text links for the same resource
  • Use ARIA described by property to provide a descriptive, programmatically determined label

Common Failures

  • Providing link context only in content that is not related to the link
  • Using null alt on an image where the image is the only content in a link

Criterion 2.4.5 Multiple Ways

More than one way is available to locate a Web page within a set of Web pages except where the Web Page is the result of, or a step in, a process

How to. Mandatory techniques

Use 2 or more of these techniques

  • Provide links to navigate to related Web pages
  • Provide a Table of Contents
  • Provide a site map
  • Provide a search function to help users find content
  • Provide a list of links to all other Web pages
  • Linking to all of the pages on the site from the home page

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Use the link element and navigation tools
  • Include information about presentation modes in tables of contents and concept maps

Criterion 2.4.6 Headings and Labels

Headings and labels describe topic or purpose

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Provide descriptive headings
  • Provide descriptive labels

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Use unique section headings in a Web Page
  • Start section headings with unique information

Criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible

Any keyboard operable user interface has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible.

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Use user interface components that are highlighted by the user agent when they receive focus
  • Use CSS to change the presentation of a user interface component when it receives focus
  • Use the default focus indicator for the platform so that high visibility default focus indicators will carry over
  • Use an author-supplied, highly visible focus indicator
  • Use script to change the background color or border of the element with focus (Scripting)

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Highlight a link or control when the mouse hovers over it
  • Provide a highly visible highlighting mechanism for links or controls when they receive keyboard focus

Common Failures

  • using script to remove focus when focus is received
  • Styling element outlines and borders in a way that removes or renders non-visible the visual focus indicator

Criterion 2.4.8 Location

Information about the user’s location within a set of Web pages is available.

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Provide a breadcrumb trail.
  • Provide a site map 3.
  • Indicate current location within navigation bars
  • Identify a Web page’s relationship to a larger collection of Web pages with the link element and navigation tools

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Provide a link to the home page or main page
  • Provide an easy-to-read version of information about the organization of a set of Web pages
  • Provide a sign language version of information about the organization of a set of Web pages
  • Provide an easy-to-read summary at the beginning of each section of content

Criterion 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only)

A mechanism is available to allow the purpose of each link to be identified from link text alone, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Provide link text that describes the purpose of a link for anchor elements or text alternatives for the area elements of image maps
  • Allow the user to choose short or long link text by a control near the beginning of the Web page that changes the link text or using scripts to change the link text
  • Provide a supplemental description of the purpose of a link hiding a portion of the link text with CSS

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Combine adjacent image and text links for the same resource
  • Support link text with the title attribute

Common Failures

  • Using a non-specific link such as “click here” or “more” without a mechanism to change the link text to specific text.
  • Using null alt on an image where the image is the only content in a link

Criterion 2.4.10 Section Headings

Section headings are used to organize the content.
Note 1: “Heading” is used in its general sense and includes titles and other ways to add a heading to different types of content.
Note 2: This success criterion covers sections within writing, not user interface components. User Interface components are covered under Success Criterion 4.1.2.

How to. Mandatory techniques

  • Organize a page using headings

Additional, Advisory Techniques

  • Use the ‘live’ property to mark live regions
  • Provide mechanisms to navigate to different sections of the content of a Web page

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