Techniques for WCAG 2.0

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# H59: Using the link element and navigation tools

## Applicability

HTML and XHTML

This technique relates to:

- Success Criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways)
  - How to Meet 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways)
  - Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways)
- Success Criterion 2.4.8 (Location)
  - How to Meet 2.4.8 (Location)
  - Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.8 (Location)

## User Agent and Assistive Technology Support Notes

- The link element has inconsistent user agent and assistive technology support.

- Some user agents provide an optional navigation bar which will display the information specified in the link element. Current versions of the Mozilla and Opera browsers provide this functionality. IE 6.0 and Firefox 1.5 do not offer this feature but it may be available through extensions or add-ons.

  See The 'link'-Element in (X)HTML for more information on browser support for `link`.

## Description

The objective of this technique is to describe how the `link` element can provide metadata about the position of an HTML page within a set of Web pages or can assist in locating content with a set of Web pages. The value of the `rel` attributes indicates what type of relation is being described, and the `href` attribute provides a link to the document having that relation. Multiple `link` elements can provide multiple relationships. Several values of `rel` are useful:

- Start: Refers to the first document in a collection of documents.

- Next: Refers to the next document in a linear sequence of documents.

- Prev: Refers to the previous document in an ordered series of documents.

- Contents: Refers to a document serving as a table of contents.

- Index: Refers to a document providing an index for the current document.

## Examples

### Example 1

A Web page for Chapter 2 of an on-line book might contain the following links within the `head` section.

Example Code:

    <link rel="Contents" href="Contents.html" title="Table of Contents"  />
    <link rel="Index" href="Index.html" title="Index" />
    <link rel="Prev" href="Chapter01.html" title="01. Why Volunteer?" />
    <link rel="Next" href="Chapter03.html" title="03. Who Volunteers?" />

## Resources

Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.

- HTML 4.01 LINK element

- HTML 4.01 link types

- Link Toolbar extension for Firefox

- Use <link>s in your document from W3C's Quality Web Tips

- LINK - Document Relationship from Web Design Group

- The 'link'-Element in (X)HTML

## Related Techniques

- G1: Adding a link at the top of each page that goes directly to the main content area
- G63: Providing a site map
- G64: Providing a Table of Contents
- G123: Adding a link at the beginning of a block of repeated content to go to the end of the block

## Tests

### Procedure

For a Web page that is within a sequence or collection of Web pages:

1. Check that all `link` elements pertaining to navigation occur in the `head` section of the document.

2. For each `link` element in the `head` section of the document which pertains to navigation, check that it contains at least:

   1. a `rel` attribute identifying the link type

   2. a valid `href` attribute to locate the appropriate resource

### Expected Results

- All of the checks above are true.

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