ACT Rule b40fd1 · proposed
Document has a landmark with non-repeated content
The other common route past the header is a landmark, usually a main element, which lets a screen reader user jump straight to the content. This rule checks that a landmark starts where the repeated content ends.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is proposed, so it has not yet been implemented in full by a tool and reviewed by a W3C working group, and the wording can still change.
Why passing this rule settles nothing about WCAG
W3C's requirements mapping for this rule names no WCAG success criterion as a conformance requirement. That is the position of 24 of the 87 live rules and this is one of them, which is why a scanner can flag it while an auditor leaves it out of the findings. Both of them are reading the same page correctly.
A failure here is not a WCAG finding standing on its own. It is one of four inputs to the composite that decides 2.4.1, and any one of the four is enough. Landmarks are invisible, which means nobody on your team will ever notice a wrong one except the people who depend on it.
Where W3C files this rule
W3C's index lists this rule under the criteria below, which is how most readers arrive here. The rule's own page names none of them as a conformance requirement, so treat the grouping as a signpost rather than as a verdict.
- 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks Level A
The composite rule this one feeds
This is an atomic input rule, which is why it names no criterion of its own. W3C combines its outcome with the other inputs below, and it is the composite that maps to WCAG. A report that cites this rule id alone has told you about one ingredient, not about the dish.
- Bypass Blocks of Repeated Content A tool finds candidates, you decide
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule b40fd1 at W3C.
Users need a way to skip past repeated content
A navigation block that repeats on every page is a small cost with a mouse and a large one without. Tabbing through forty links to reach the article on every page is the experience it creates.
Several answers work. A skip link, real landmarks, or a heading that starts the main content each give a way through.
Skip links that are hidden from everyone rather than only visually never appear on focus. No one can use them because they are completely invisible.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- Document has heading for non-repeated content Nothing implements this yet
- Block of repeated content is collapsible Nothing implements this yet
- Document has an instrument to move focus to non-repeated content Nothing implements this yet
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.