WCAG 3.0 is an active W3C Working Draft in development by the AGWG. Requirements, assertions, the conformance model and reporting tiers are still being developed and may change. The latest published draft is the 10 September 2026 Working Draft; this site follows the editors’ draft, which also includes exploratory provisions.
A control that serves the same purpose across pages keeps the same visual position - except where the position changes because of a page variation, a change of viewport, or a step in a process.
Why It Matters
Spatial memory is how most people find familiar controls quickly. Moving them costs the most for magnification users, who see only a fraction of the screen at once.
Establish a design system with documented rules for consistent placement of common interactive components (for example, navigation menus, search bars, and action buttons).
Reuse the same components across pages/views instead of recreating them.
Recommended Practices (Upstream)
If a visual position must change, document why and consider providing cues (for example, animations and labels) to reduce confusion.
W3C Working Group Status
W3C Maturity Status:developing
Track / Group:interactive-components
The draft records no open editors' notes on this provision.
W3C Threads on This Provision
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Where an interactive element with the same purpose is used across pages/views, its visual position in the layout is maintained.
:::except-when
- The location changes due to a page variation or viewport change, or
- The layout changes due to being part of a process.
:::
:::example
An e-commerce checkout is an example of where the layout might change within a longer process.
:::