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Navigation Bar Rules

HTML Markup Details

ul element and other container elements
The ul element is the preferred navigation bar container element.
Other container elements that are identified as navigation bars include nested table elements that contain mostly links and map elements that contain area elements. These containers are not as accessible or interoperable as ul element.
li and a elements
The li element should be used as the container for individual a elements in ul element navigation bar.
h2-h6 elements
Heading elements (h2-h6) should provide descriptive labels for a collection of links for page and site navigation; the h2 element is preferred for most navigation bars.
The heading should immediately precede the navigation bar container element.
Heading elements can be hidden in a graphical rendering by using CSS absolute positioning.

Accessibility Evaluation Rules

Navigation Bar Evaluation Rules
no. FAE 2007 FAE 2008 Description
1 N/A Pass/Fail

h2 or another heading element must precede ul and ol elements that appear to be navigation bars.

Implementation Notes:

  • FAE will consider only ul and ol elements that appear before the last h1 element in a web page for the purpose of evaluation as a navigation bar.
  • FAE will consider ul and ol elements whose li elements are all links or mostly links as navigation bars (only one cell can contain a non-link element).
  • The h2 or other heading element are considered to precede the navigation bar if they are the last element with text content before the navigation bar.
  • Other rules related to subheadings.
2 N/A Pass/Fail

h2 or another heading element must precede table elements that appear to be a navigation bars.

Implementation Notes:

  • FAE will consider only table elements that appear before the last h1 element in a web page for the purpose of evaluation as a navigation bar.
  • FAE will consider table elements that only contain one row or one column of tables cells and the table cells are all links or mostly links as navigation bars (only one cell can contain a non-link element).
  • The h2 or other heading element are considered to precede the navigation bar if they are the last element with text content before the navigation bar.
  • Other rules related to subheadings.
3 N/A Pass/Fail

h2 or another heading element must precede map elements that contain area elements that appear to be a navigation bars.

Implementation Notes:

  • FAE will consider only map elements that appear before the last h1 element in a web page for the purpose of evaluation as a navigation bar.
  • The h2 or other heading element are considered to precede the navigation bar if they are the last element with text content before the navigation bar.
  • Other rules related to subheadings.
4 Pass/Fail Pass/Warning

Each area element should have a redundant text link (a element) with href values matching the href values of the area elements.
5 N/A Pass/Check

Most web pages should contain at least one navigation bar.
6 Pass/Fail N/A

Each ul and ol element that contain li elements that are mostly links must be immediately preceded by a heading element.

FAE Rule Implemetation

FAE 2007
The Illinois Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) currently implements FAE 2007 rules.
The Illinois Firefox Accessibility Extension currently implements these rules.
FAE 2008
The FAE 2008 rules are designed to optimize the rules for implementation of Section 508, W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Illinois Information technology Accessibility Act requirements and are based on the requirements of these standards and experience with the problems of FAE 2007.
The Illinois Firefox Accessibility Extension currently implements some of these rules.

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