3.2.3 Consistent Navigation

What does it mean?

Menus, footers, breadcrumbs and skip links that repeat across your site must keep their items in the same order. People learn where things are and expect to find them in the same place.

Items may be added or removed, for example a sub-menu on some pages, as long as the remaining order stays the same. If the user changes the order themselves, for example in their settings, that is allowed.

Who does it help?

• People with cognitive or learning disabilities who rely on predictable layouts
• Screen reader users who learn the order of links and jump through them
• People with low vision using screen magnification, who see only part of the page at a time

Common failures

• The main menu order changes between the home page and inner pages
• The shop uses a different header with a different link order than the rest of the site
• Footer links are rearranged on landing pages built with a separate page builder

How we test it

• evidence Evidence: our scanner collects material such as screenshots, lists and measurements.

Test question: Is repeated navigation in the same order on every page? Differences found are listed.

A person decides every criterion. No criterion ever passes automatically.

How to fix it

<!-- home -->
<nav><a href="/">Home</a> <a href="/shop">Shop</a> <a href="/contact">Contact</a></nav>
<!-- shop page -->
<nav><a href="/contact">Contact</a> <a href="/">Home</a> <a href="/shop">Shop</a></nav>

<!-- one shared template on every page -->
<nav aria-label="Main">
  <a href="/">Home</a>
  <a href="/shop">Shop</a>
  <a href="/contact">Contact</a>
</nav>

One shared navigation template keeps the order identical on every page.

Practical tips

• Generate header and footer from a single template or component instead of copying them per page.

Guides and patterns on this

• The accessibility statement: complete, honest and easy to findService providers and public sector bodies have to say how accessible their offer is. Here is what each set of rules requires and how to write a statement that actually helps people.
• Navigation with submenus that does not need a mouseSubmenus behind buttons, Escape closes, plain links.

Official source

Understanding WCAG 2.2 at the W3C: 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation