Navigation cheat sheet

Navigation that repeats across pages appears in the same relative order each time, unless the user changes it.

If contact details, a contact mechanism or self-help options repeat across pages, they appear in the same order relative to other content.

People must always have at least one way to reach a human or get help. Put the help route in the same place on every page, and make sure it is reachable from error and dead-end screens.

Once someone has logged in, show whose account it is, where they will see it. Keep the name or identifier in the header on every signed-in page, next to the way to log out. Decide how it truncates on small screens.

Offer more than one way to locate a page within a set, for example navigation plus search. Steps in a process are exempt.

Any website with more than one page needs a search that people can find easily. Put search where people expect it, on every page. Ask for the search logs: the terms people type show what your navigation fails to surface.

Provide a mechanism, such as a skip link, to bypass blocks of content that repeat on multiple pages.

The purpose of each link can be determined from its text alone, or from the text together with its surrounding context.

All functionality must be operable through a keyboard interface, without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes.

When a page is navigated sequentially, components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.

Any keyboard-operable interface has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible.

When a component receives keyboard focus, it must not be entirely hidden by author-created content such as sticky headers, footers or cookie banners.