WCAG 2.2: Consistent Navigation (3.2.3) - Can you break it when you magnify a page?

[Taballe]

Hi,

Let's say that you have a web application that has navigation links along the left side of the page; this is on ALL pages. Some of the pages happen to have a horizontal tabstrip as well.

When I magnify the page:

1. On pages with big tabstrips, the ones that no longer fit are replaced by a "More" tab. If you open it, it shows the tabs that no longer fit, as a menu. If there were 10 tabs, the last 3 are moved into the More menu. This is what I expect to happen.

2. The same thing is done for the vertical navigation links. HOWEVER, the overall order does change.

• Let's say that there are a total of 10 navigation links. At 100% magnification, all ten are visible. At 125% magnification, the More menu button appears, but 10 is not put into this menu.
• For example, the navigation links will show 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, and then the More menu. When you open the More menu, you see 7, 8, and 9.

In my opinion, this is a failure of "Consistent Navigation". The order should not change simply because the user magnified the page. The more you zoom, the larger the More menu gets, but 10 never makes it into the More menu.

Looking forward to some feedback. If you agree that this is a valid failure, could this be mentioned in the WCAG 2.2 documentation, for future reference?

Thanks!

[patrickhlauke]

are you saying that the order of links is different at smaller viewports between the pages that have a tabstrip and the ones that don't?

or is the issue here that the order is different on the same page at different zoom levels? if the latter, note that zooming/changing viewport size falls under the "unless a change is initiated by the user" clause. the SC doesn't demand that the order will always be consistent even across different breakpoints/adaptations.

[Taballe]

Yes, the order is different on the same page at different zoom levels. I mentioned the tabstrips only as an example of them preserving the original order as I keep zooming.

I have understood "unless a change is initiated by the user" to mean that they reordered them on purpose. I have seen apps that let you do that (e.g., via drag and drop). I didn't think that zooming fell under that umbrella...

But OK. :)

Thanks for the quick response.

[mraccess77]

My two cents - the criterion applies across pages - not variations of the same page.