ACT Rule fd3a94 · proposed
Links with identical accessible names and same context serve equivalent purpose
Two links with the same name in the same place ought to go to the same page. This rule finds links sharing a name and a context and checks that they lead somewhere equivalent.
A tool can find the places this applies and then hand you the decision. 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.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
The rule holds itself to links in exactly the same context, because W3C decided that defining an identical but separate context could not be done unambiguously. Links with the same name in similar contexts also fail the criterion and do not fail this rule. Pull up the page's link list and read it.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) Level A
Criteria that are related but not tested here
W3C calls these secondary requirements. The rule correlates with them and was not designed to test them, so each one is either stricter than the rule or can be satisfied in ways the rule never looks at.
- 2.4.9 Link Purpose (Link Only) Level AAA
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 We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source.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 fd3a94 at W3C.
Every control needs a name that assistive technology can read
Every control has a name that assistive technology reads out. It is not always the text you see. The browser works it out in a fixed order. An aria-labelledby reference wins first, then aria-label, then the element's own content or its associated label, then a title attribute as a last resort.
A screen reader user moving through a page by control hears these names and nothing else. If the name is empty, they hear only the role. A button with no name is a button with no idea what it does.
Icon-only buttons are the common case. The icon carries the meaning visually and leaves nothing behind for the name. The control announces as just a button with no function described.
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.
- Link has non-empty accessible name A tool can check this
- Link in context is descriptive A tool can check this
- Link is descriptive A tool can check this
- Links with identical accessible names have equivalent purpose A tool can check this
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.