G64Sufficient technique WCAG 2.4.5 Level AA Human testing required

Provide a table of contents for long documents

A list of a document's sections at the top, each entry linking to its section. G64 is that technique, and W3C counts it as sufficient for the multiple-ways rule at Level AA when it is combined with other techniques, which is the same qualification a site map carries. One route is not multiple ways. A contents list does two jobs at once, which is how it earns the space it takes. It shows a reader the shape of the document before they commit to reading any of it, and it lets them jump straight to the part they came for. There are two kinds, too. A contents list for one long page, and a contents list for a set of pages that together make one document. The second is the one the rule is really aimed at.

How we find it in an audit

Long pages get checked for a contents list, and long means a reader would have to scroll past what they came for before finding it. Where one exists, we check the entries match the headings in both wording and order, since a contents list that has drifted from its document is a map of somewhere else. Every entry gets followed to confirm it lands on its own section. Multi-page documents get the same treatment across the whole set, because that is where the rule has the most to say.

How affected users experience it

A screen-reader user can already jump between headings, so a contents list is not their only route through a document. What it adds is the overview. Heading navigation tells you what comes next. A contents list tells you what is there, all of it, before you start, which is the difference between exploring a document and reading one. For readers with cognitive disabilities the overview matters more again, because knowing how much lies ahead is part of being able to face it.

Passes vs. fails

Passes: headings exist in the code. Fails: one flat wall of text.

Passes

A linked contents list at the top mirrors the document's headings, and every entry jumps to its own section anchor.

Fails

A 9,000-word terms document has one heading, no contents list, and no way to jump to the refunds section.

Other ways to satisfy this rule

8 guides on this site are filed under 2.4.5 Multiple Ways. W3C lists this one as sufficient for that rule when combined with other techniques, so the condition is part of the test rather than a footnote to it.

This guide is our interpretation of W3C technique G64: Providing a Table of Contents. W3C publishes its techniques as guidance rather than as the standard, and says so on every one of them. The success criterion is what conformance is measured against, and a technique is one documented way to meet it.