G124: Adding links at the top of the page to each area of the content | WAI | W3C Skip to content

Technique G124:Adding links at the top of the page to each area of the content

About this Technique

This technique relates to 2.4.1: Bypass Blocks (Sufficient when used for creating links to skip blocks of repeated material).

This technique applies to all technologies that contain links.

Description

The objective of this technique is to provide a mechanism to bypass blocks of material by providing a list of links to the different sections of the content. The links in this list, like a small table of contents at the beginning of the content, set focus to the different sections of the content. This technique is particularly useful for pages with many independent sections, such as portals. It may also be combined with other techniques for skipping blocks within a section.

Examples

Example 1

The Web pages on a site all start with three links that navigate to the main content of that Web page, the search field, and the navigation bar.

Related Resources

No endorsement implied.

Tests

Procedure

For each link in the set of links provided for this purpose:

  1. Check that the only controls in the Web page that precede the link are other links in the set.
  2. Check that the description of each link communicates that it links to some section of the content.
  3. Check that the link is either always visible or visible when it has keyboard focus.
  4. Check that activating the link moves the focus to that section of the content.

Expected Results

  • All checks above are true.

Test Rules

The following are Test Rules related to this Technique. It is not necessary to use these particular Test Rules to check for conformance with WCAG, but they are defined and approved test methods. For information on using Test Rules, see Understanding Test Rules for WCAG Success Criteria.

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