Consistency
Consistent navigation
From one page to the next, the relative order of components on the page and of links within navigation blocks should remain unchanged. Components or links may be removed or inserted, but the relative order should stay the same.
Ensuring that repeated components and links occur in the same order on each page helps users predict where they can find things. This helps users with cognitive limitations, with low vision, with intellectual disabilities, and helps users who are blind.
Related WCAG resources
Related WCAG resources
Success criteria
Techniques
Failures
Consistent identification
From one page to the next, identical functional components should be consistently named. For instance, a widget named "Search" on one page is named "Search" on the other pages, not sometimes "Find". If identical functions have different names on different web pages, the site will be considerably more difficult for screen reader users and users with cognitive limitations.
The need for consistency extends to text alternatives; e.g., if icons or other non-text items have identical functionality, then their text alternatives should be consistent as well.
Example begins
| Page | Before (different icons, different text alternatives) |
After (same icon, same text alternative) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
|
| 2 |
|
|
| 3 |
|
|
Example ends