Understanding Location

In brief

Goal
Users know where they are in a set of pages.
What to do
Use breadcrumbs, site maps, or other indicators to give context.
Why it's important
Location indicators reduce confusion for people with cognitive disabilities.

Intent of Location

The intent of this Success Criterion is to provide a way for the user to orient herself within a set of Web pages, a Web site, or a Web application and find related information.

Benefits of Location

Examples of Location

Links to help user determine their location in a site
A research group is part of an educational department at a university. The group's home page links to the department home page and the university's home page.
A breadcrumb trail
A portal Web site organizes topics into categories. As the user navigates through categories and subcategories, a breadcrumb trail shows the current location in the hierarchy of categories. Each page also contains a link to the portal home page.

Resources for Location

Techniques for Location

Sufficient Techniques for Location

Additional Techniques (Advisory) for Location

Failures for Location