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Accessibility
Why must the order of content in the code be correct?
The order in the code has to be right, because screen readers read out a page in exactly this order — regardless of how the content is arranged on screen. If the price comes before the product name in the code, a blind visitor hears "€89" first and doesn't know what it's for. The visible order and the code order have to match.
Two views of the same page
Every website exists twice: once as the visible design on screen, and once as code, where the content sits one after another. Modern design techniques can decouple the two — an element that sits right at the bottom in the code can appear visually at the top left. For sighted visitors, that's invisible. A screen reader, though, strictly follows the code. An example: your price list shows three packages side by side, but in the code, all three titles come first, then all three prices, then all three descriptions. The blind visitor hears "Basic, Comfort, Premium, €29, €59, €99" — and can no longer match the prices to the packages.
How our measurement engine checks the order
The axe-core testing tool detects individual technical signals that point to a disrupted order — such as markup that pulls elements out of the reading flow. Whether the reading order of a specific page makes sense content-wise, however, is something a machine can only judge to a limited extent in principle: that takes understanding the content. Our measurement engine follows its principle here that an unremarkable pass is no free pass — whatever the automation can't reliably decide, the report marks as "manual review". At the Gold Standard level, an auditor has the page output in code order and judges whether the content still makes sense that way.
- Ask your agency to review your most important pages once with no styling — just in code order.
- Check price lists and comparison tables especially closely: that's where the design most often separates information that belongs together.
- When redesigning, make sure content is inserted in the code where it belongs content-wise — not wherever is technically convenient.
- Test with the Tab key after major design changes: if the highlight jumps all over the place, the code order is usually wrong too.
- Include the reading order as an acceptance criterion in contracts with your agency.
FAQ
What is a website's reading order?
The reading order is the sequence in which the content sits in the page's code. Screen readers for blind people follow exactly this sequence — not the visible arrangement on screen. If the two differ, blind visitors hear the content in an order that makes no sense.
How do I test my website's reading order myself?
A simple first check: repeatedly press the Tab key on your page and watch where the highlight jumps to. If it moves around the screen in a wild sequence, the code order is usually disrupted. Full proof comes from an auditor who has the page output in code order.
Can an automated check assess the reading order?
Only to a limited extent. Automated tools detect technical signals that disrupt the reading flow. Whether the order makes sense content-wise requires understanding the content — only a human can do that. Our report therefore openly states what was measured; the content judgment is made by an auditor at the Gold Standard level.