This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung
Accessibility
How does a visitor know where they are on the site?
Anyone who lands on a subpage via a search engine does not know where he is: Which area, which level, how back? Level AAA criterion 2.4.8 requires each page to show its position within the site. The usual way is a bread crumb navigation; Also a highlighted menu area or a sitemap with marking meet it.
What the Criterion Requires
On each page, information is available that indicates the place in the offer. A breadcrumb line “Home › Services › Accessibility” makes the level and path visible and links each level. A menu that highlights the current area and also marks it for auxiliary technology (aria-current) also fulfills it. In a sequence in several steps, a step indicator “step 2 of 4: address” shows the position.
For whom this counts
People with a read-out program do not see a menu structure at a glance; A breadcrumb line at the top of the page tells them where they are in a sentence. People with learning disabilities or memory problems lose orientation on deep websites; A visible path returns them. Everyone else will find the same line faster for an overview. Search engines read bread crumbs with structured data and show them in the search result.
This is how we deal with it
The measurement recognizes a bread crumb navigation (landmark or structured data BreadcrumbList) and an aria-current mark in the menu and can thus tell for each page whether a position is available. If it is true, a person checks randomly. The criterion belongs to the category AAA in knowledge; It can be checked automatically.
Examples
Underside without location
<h1>Gebührenordnung</h1>
<!-- kein Menü hervorgehoben, keine Brotkrumen --><nav aria-label="Sie sind hier">
<ol>
<li><a href="/">Start</a></li>
<li><a href="/service">Service</a></li>
<li aria-current="page">Gebührenordnung</li>
</ol>
</nav>
<h1>Gebührenordnung</h1>Bread crumbs or a menu item with aria-current show the place on offer.
- Build a breadcrumb line above the main content as a navigation called “You are here”, last level without link and with aria-current.
- In the main menu, mark the current area visible and with aria-current="page" or "true".
- Draw the bread crumbs with BreadcrumbList, then it shows the search engine.
- In multi-step processes, show the current step and the total number.
