Code according to best practices

Consistency is one of the most important principles behind good interactive design and accessible content. To achieve consistency in behaviour and predictability, code your site to existing standards and conventions.

Remember, “Users spend most of their time on other sites.” (Jakob Nielsen). Users want your site to work the same way as other sites that they are familiar with.

On this page

This guidance currently aligns with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and is being updated to reflect WCAG 2.2.

Organisations subject to the Web Accessibility Directive or the European Accessibility Act should refer to WCAG 2.2 (W3C.org)(w3.org) (w3.org), as compliance will be required when the revised EN 301 549 standard (PDF)(etsi.org) (etsi.org) is published in the Official Journal of the European Union in December 2026.

In this section

References for this section

WCAG 2.1

EN 301 549 v 2.1.2

9.1.3.1 Info and Relationships
9.1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics
9.1.4.1 Use of Colour
9.2.4.6 Headings and Labels
9.3.2.3 Consistent Navigation
9.3.2.4 Consistent Identification
9.4.1.1 Parsing
9.4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

Code according to best practices

In this section

References for this section

WCAG 2.1

EN 301 549 v 2.1.2

Videos

Further reading