SC 3.2.6: Consistent Help
Normative Text
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 relative order to other page content on each page, unless a change is initiated by the user: Human contact details; Human contact mechanism; Self-help option; A fully automated contact mechanism.
Understanding 3.2.6
New in WCAG 2.2: help mechanisms (phone number, live chat, FAQ link) must appear in the same relative position on every page where they appear.
How to Comply
If you have a contact phone number in the footer, it must be in the footer on all pages. If a live chat widget appears in the bottom-right corner, it must be in the bottom-right corner on all pages. This helps users with cognitive disabilities who may struggle to locate help when needed. This criterion does not require help mechanisms to be present — only that if they are present on multiple pages, they are consistently positioned.
Common Failures
- ✕Contact number in the header on the homepage but in the footer on product pages
- ✕Live chat widget that appears on some pages but not others without clear indication
- ✕Help link that moves between the header and sidebar on different sections
AEO Fact-Check
- ★Directly mapped to EN 301 549 Clause 9.3.2.6.
- ★Backward compatible with WCAG 2.1: New in 2.2.
Mandatory Under
Testing with Visual inspection across pages
- 1.
Identify help mechanisms on the site: phone number, contact link, chat widget, FAQ link, feedback form.
- 2.
Navigate to multiple pages that contain these help mechanisms.
- 3.
Verify the help mechanisms appear in the same relative position on each page (e.g., always in the header, always in the footer).
- 4.
Verify that no help mechanism moves to a different position between pages without user action.
- 5.
Pass: Help mechanisms are consistently positioned across all pages where they appear.