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Operable · Level AA · 2.4.5

Multiple Ways

There has to be more than one way to find a given page on a site — search plus a site map, or a table of contents plus links from the homepage — because no single navigation method suits everyone.

  • Low vision
  • Cognitive
The problem, in practice — select the image to enlarge it
An 'ExampleSite' homepage compared with only one way to navigate versus multiple ways. 'Not enough ways' shows a page offering only its main navigation menu, noted as difficult for screen reader users, users with cognitive disabilities, users with low vision, and users on mobile devices. 'Multiple ways' shows the same homepage additionally offering a search box and a site map, alongside a table of contents and links from the homepage as further examples — four different paths (search, site map, table of contents, links from homepage) all reaching the same 'Accessibility Guide' page, so each user can navigate however suits them best.

How to recognize it

Check whether a page can only be reached one specific way — say, by clicking through a single fixed hierarchy of category pages with no search box and no site map anywhere. Someone using a screen magnifier who finds it exhausting to scroll and scan through long hierarchical menus might rely entirely on search instead; someone with a cognitive disability might rely on a table of contents or site map to build a mental overview before diving in, rather than clicking blind through categories one at a time. A site that offers only one of these paths forces every visitor into whichever method happens to suit them least. The exception: a single page that's the direct result of a process — a payment confirmation, a search results page itself — doesn't need multiple ways to reach it, since it's only ever meant to be reached by completing that specific process.

How to fix it

Offer at least two of: a search feature, a site map, a table of contents, a list of links to other pages, or a clear set of links from the homepage that eventually reaches everything. Most sites already have most of the pieces — main navigation plus a search box is often enough — the failure case is usually a large content site that has only ever built one of these and never added a second.

Example

Avoid

<!-- entire site only reachable via a single nested category menu, no search, no site map -->

Prefer

<nav><!-- category navigation --></nav>
<form role="search"><input type="search" aria-label="Search site"></form>
<a href="/sitemap">Site map</a>

Resources