• Success Criterion 3.2.3
  • Conformance level AA

Skip Link Appearing in a Different Order on Different Pages

3.2.3 — Consistent Navigation

Scenario

Setting

An online spreadsheet's toolbar

What’s wrong

Skip links appearing in different sequence among the first focusables per page.

Example 

<!-- Spreadsheet editor -->
<a href="#toolbar">Skip to toolbar</a>
<a href="#main-content">Skip to content</a>

<!-- Sharing settings page -->
<a href="#main-content">Skip to content</a>
<a href="#toolbar">Skip to toolbar</a>

Why it matters

A keyboard user who learns that the first Tab skips to the toolbar on the editor gets skip to content first instead on the sharing settings page, breaking a habit they rely on.

How to test

Check the order of the first few focusable elements (including any skip link) on multiple pages: if the sequence varies page to page, it fails.

How to fix

Define the skip links once in a shared page template so their order can't diverge per page.

<!-- Same order at the top of every page -->
<a href="#toolbar">Skip to toolbar</a>
<a href="#main-content">Skip to content</a>

Outcome

A keyboard user's first Tab press always lands on the same skip link, page after page.

Who is affected

Keyboard-only users who tab through skip links at the start of every page depend on the same order to navigate efficiently.

Learn more

Related scenarios