Multiple Way 2.4.5

I want to gather some opinions regarding WCAG 2 SC 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways).



The success criteria does not indicate any known failures.  It requires that
all pages be accessible by multiple ways.  At the minimum this could be read
as there must be more than one way to reach a page unless it is part of a
result or step in a process.  All of the sufficient techniques deal with
site index, home pages, and lists of all pages but the language in the
requirement does not indicate those as requirements.  So it logically could
be assumed that as long as more than one page links to the page than there
is a different path to the page.



Regarding steps in a process – it’s not clear if the said “steps” are steps
that are required versus steps that are artificially created.  The example
of viewing alternative products before a purchase which is used in the
non-normative Understanding WCAG 2.0 document indicates that artificially
created steps as part of a business case are acceptable.



Take the example of a bank that has an ATM search page.  The page contains a
combo box with all fifty US states.  After selecting a state in the box you
are taken to a page listing the ATMs found in that state.  It would appear
that there is a good case to indicate that these subsequent pages are
results or steps in a process although it apparent that each page could
stand alone by itself and wouldn’t require the prior page with combo box.
 Perhaps someone can shed some understanding on what the committee meant.
It could be argued that any page that is the result of a form field
selection such as combo box is part of a result or step in a process.  But
making a general statement such as that could take away from the intended
purpose of this success criteria.



My recommendation to those involved with editing these non-normative
documents is to provide several known failures for each success criteria to
better assist the public in making decisions about the criteria.



Jonathan