3.2.3 Consistent Navigation

MCS Accessibility Team

MCS Accessibility Team
Last Updated July 23, 2020

The following directions are part of a full step-by-step guide to making a HubSpot website WCAG 2.1 AA compliant. These recommendations are intended for websites managed on the HubSpot CMS but can be adapted for other content management systems.

LEVELAA
Principle: Understandable
Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
Guideline: Predictable
Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.

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.

View Official WCAG 2.1 Compliance Techniques

Understanding 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation

Criteria 3.2.3 states that a repeated navigation on a site must by default remain in a consistent order wherever it is present, unless adjusted by the user.

To ensure all users can navigate a site effectively and with ease of use, the navigation must remain consistent from page to page. So, for example, if the Contact page is the last item on your navigation, it must always remain the last item. 

Sub-navigation and page navigation are permitted under this criteria, but they must remain consistent as well.

This criteria helps individuals with, "cognitive limitations, users with low vision, users with intellectual disabilities, and also those who are blind," it explains.

How HubSpot Helps

This is resolved naturally with HubSpot provided you are using the same navigation managed by its menu tool. You can then use these menus in global groups, such as your website header, to ensure consistency across your entire site.

Screenshot of Advanced Menus Tool in HubSpot

 

In a HubSpot portal, if you scroll to the settings gear > website > navigation, you have the ability to set up standard menus to use across the site.

For more information, please visit the official W3C article: Understanding 3.2.3 Consistent Navigation


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