Consistent Help
Tier 1 · The normative floor
Baseline compliance
What the normative text of WCAG 2.2 requires, and nothing more. Only a failure of this tier is a WCAG failure.
The bare minimum
If pages in a set repeat any of these help mechanisms, they appear in the same order relative to other page content, unless the user changes it: human contact details, a human contact mechanism, a self-help option, or a fully automated contact mechanism.
Normative text
Verbatim from WCAG 2.2, W3C Recommendation 12 December 2024. Underlined terms are defined below.
If a web page contains any of the following help mechanisms, and those mechanisms are repeated on multiple web pages within a set of web pages, they occur in the same order relative to other page content, unless a change is initiated by the user:
- Human contact details;
- Human contact mechanism;
- Self-help option;
- A fully automated contact mechanism.
Not required by the normative text
Common claims that this criterion does not support. Don't log these as WCAG failures.
- Providing help at all. It only requires consistency when help is repeated across pages.
- The same visual position on screen. It's the order relative to other page content that counts.
Definitions used (3)
Glossary definitions are normative. Their notes are informative.
- web page
-
a non-embedded resource obtained from a single URI using HTTP plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it by a user agent
Informative notes (2)
Although any "other resources" would be rendered together with the primary resource, they would not necessarily be rendered simultaneously with each other.
For the purposes of conformance with these guidelines, a resource must be "non-embedded" within the scope of conformance to be considered a web page.
- mechanism
-
process or technique for achieving a result
Informative notes (2)
The mechanism may be explicitly provided in the content, or may be relied upon to be provided by either the platform or by user agents, including assistive technologies.
The mechanism needs to meet all success criteria for the conformance level claimed.
- set of web pages
-
collection of web pages that share a common purpose and that are created by the same author, group or organization
Informative notes (1)
Different language versions would be considered different sets of web pages.
Notes in the criterion Informative
WCAG 2.2 lists notes among its informative material, which "does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim." They help interpret the criterion but are not part of the floor.
Help mechanisms may be provided directly on the page, or may be provided via a direct link to a different page containing the information.
For this success criterion, "the same order relative to other page content" can be thought of as how the content is ordered when the page is serialized. The visual position of a help mechanism is likely to be consistent across pages for the same page variation (e.g., CSS break-point). The user can initiate a change, such as changing the page's zoom or orientation, which may trigger a different page variation. This criterion is concerned with relative order across pages displayed in the same page variation (e.g., same zoom level and orientation).
Tier 2 · The gap
Usability & user impact
Where content can meet this criterion and still make things harder for people with disabilities. These are not failures of SC 3.2.6, so raise them as usability defects. Known failures, including failures of related criteria, are listed in Tier 1.
Consistently placed help can still be unhelpful, such as a chatbot that can't reach a person.
Tier 3 · The golden path
Recommended best practice
The pattern that meets the floor, closes the gap, and avoids audit disputes. A recommendation, not a requirement.
Put help in the same spot in the shared layout, and always include a route to a human.
W3C's Understanding document and techniques for SC 3.2.6 ↗ are informative: sufficient techniques show ways to pass, and documented failures show common ways to fail, but neither changes what the criterion requires.
How SC 3.2.6 maps to the WCAG 3 draft
From this site's reviewed map to the WCAG 3 editor's draft. It's an interpretation: W3C has not published a mapping.
Successor provisions
From WCAG 2.2, section 5.1: “The main content of WCAG 2.2 is normative and defines requirements that impact conformance claims. Introductory material, appendices, sections marked as "non-normative", diagrams, examples, and notes are informative (non-normative). Non-normative material provides advisory information to help interpret the guidelines but does not create requirements that impact a conformance claim.”