--- title: 'IWCG Guideline 2. Information architecture' url: 'https://jessica.digital/projects/iwcg/guidelines/2-information-architecture' markdown: 'https://jessica.digital/projects/iwcg/guidelines/2-information-architecture.md' date: '2026-10-24' description: 'The WCAG 3.0 guidelines focus on the use of specific elements within a specific page rather than taking a holistic overview of the entire site. This guideline introduces success criteria to be applied to a website and ensure that the…' --- [ IWCG Guidelines](https://jessica.digital/projects/iwcg/guidelines) # IWCG Guideline 2. Information architecture The WCAG 3.0 guidelines focus on the use of specific elements within a specific page rather than taking a holistic overview of the entire site. This guideline introduces success criteria to be applied to a website and ensure that the information architecture is defined and accessible to the user with a consistent approach. --- ### 2.1. Alternative routes #### Guideline Provide natural alternative routes to information to account for different user models, promoting cross-navigation. #### Description Traditional website hierarchies follow a top-down approach, with a homepage leading to categories, sub-categories and finally content pages (Lynch & Horton, 2016). Whilst this may match the user model for some websites, often non-expert users do not have the same understanding of the information represented within a system. By facilitating alternative routes to information, users will be able to follow natural thematic links to explore the content. #### Information quality attributes Availability, fallback #### Critical errors No contextual links within content between pages or sections within the same page. #### Rating for ‘Alternative routes’ | | | |---|---| | **Rating** | **Criteria** | | Rating 0 | Information follows a structured linear format | | Rating 1 | Not applicable | | Rating 2 | Some referenced links though inconsistent across site | | Rating 3 | Not applicable | | Rating 4 | Relevant links are referenced within content and pages | --- ### 2.2. Consistent representation #### Guideline Maintain consistent information representation across a site and content areas. #### Description Whilst the WCAG 2.1 guidelines define multiple success criterion describing how not to define the appearance of various elements, there is no guideline suggesting consistent representation across a website. By applying consistent representations across all pages and elements, the user can explore a familiar environment, helping develop their mental model of the information and improving learnability of the system. #### Information quality attributes Consistent representation, presentation #### Critical errors Information presented inconsistently across pages. #### Rating for ‘Consistent representation’ | | | |---|---| | **Rating** | **Criteria** | | Rating 0 | Website designed without core components and style guide | | Rating 1 | Some consistency within site though no core components | | Rating 2 | Website navigation consistent though content elements appear differently on different pages | | Rating 3 | Navigation elements consistent with most content included in standardised formats | | Rating 4 | All website styles consistent, including navigational and in-page content areas | --- ### 2.3. Number of links #### Guideline Avoid providing users with large lists of links. #### Description The number of links presented on a page can have an impact on a user’s attention and information seeking behaviour. By ensuring that the user is not overloaded with irrelevant links, it can be easier for the user to follow links and find website content. #### Information quality attributes Navigation, presentation #### Critical errors Large sets of links presented as lists. #### Rating for ‘Number of links’ | | | |---|---| | **Rating** | **Criteria** | | Rating 0 | Huge number of links presented on page without content or organisation | | Rating 1 | Not applicable | | Rating 2 | Many links on page with contextualisation such as sub-headings and styling devices to create distinctions | | Rating 3 | Not applicable | | Rating 4 | Links only used where appropriate and embedded within text where possible | --- ### 2.4. Recency #### Guideline Ensure content is recent, and this is communicated with the user. #### Description More recent web content often aids information seeking behaviour and influences user choices (Westerman et al., 2014). By annotating information with dates of publication and updates, users may find it easier to access more relevant information. #### Information quality attributes Recency #### Critical errors No recency notifiers, e.g., date last updated, or date posted within content. #### Rating for ‘Recency’ | | | |---|---| | **Rating** | **Criteria** | | Rating 0 | No recency notifier, e.g., uploaded, or updated date | | Rating 1 | Not applicable | | Rating 2 | Recency notifier included though content not updated in timely manner | | Rating 3 | Not applicable | | Rating 4 | Recency notifier included along with recent relevant updates to page | --- ### 2.5. Search results #### Guideline Provide clear and consistent search mechanisms for all content. #### Description Users often perform searches as a primary navigation mechanism of website content, however there is little guidance or standardisation on what should be searched and how the results should be displayed. Search mechanisms should clearly label what information is being searched, cover all website content in a single result set and display matches in a consistent manner ranked according to relevance. #### Information quality attributes Consistent representation, search #### Critical errors Site does not have an internal search mechanism. #### Rating for ‘Search results’ | | | |---|---| | **Rating** | **Criteria** | | Rating 0 | No search mechanism | | Rating 1 | Basic search mechanism for page titles or metadata only | | Rating 2 | Search mechanism includes full content search | | Rating 3 | Full content search along with relevance filter | | Rating 4 | Full content search ranked by relevance, along with clear identification of most appropriate results for query | --- ## Navigation - Parent: [IWCG Guidelines](https://jessica.digital/projects/iwcg/guidelines.md) - Previous: [IWCG Guideline 1. Availability](https://jessica.digital/projects/iwcg/guidelines/1-availability.md) - Next: [IWCG Guideline 3. Interactivity](https://jessica.digital/projects/iwcg/guidelines/iwcg-guideline-3-interactivity.md)