Consistent help

When your pages offer a way to get help, such as a contact link or help button, it should appear in the same place on every page. Silktide finds these links and records where each one sits, so you can confirm the location is consistent across your website.

Why this matters

People who need help are often already struggling - with the site, the task, or both. If the contact link is in the header on one page, the footer on the next, and missing from a third, visitors have to hunt for it each time. For people with cognitive or memory difficulties, that hunt can be the point where they give up. A predictable location means help is one glance away wherever they are.

This is success criterion 3.2.6 (Consistent Help), a requirement introduced in WCAG 2.2 - part of the most basic conformance level.

How to fix it

Choose one place for your help or contact route - commonly the main navigation or the footer - and use it on every page, in the same relative order.
Put the link in your shared page template rather than adding it page by page, so it cannot drift.
Compare the positions Silktide records across your pages. If they already match, the findings.

How Silktide tests this

Test both the mobile and desktop versions of every page; results may differ between the two.
Find visible links and buttons whose text is a recognized help phrase: "Contact", "Contact us", "Help", or "Request help".
Record where each one sits among the page's interactive elements - for example "3rd from the bottom" for a footer link, or "5th from the top" for one in the header.
Flag these for your review. Silktide cannot judge whether the recorded positions count as consistent across your pages, so you compare them and confirm.

Troubleshooting

My help link uses different wording

Silktide only recognizes the common phrases listed above. A link labeled "Support" or "Get in touch" is not recorded, so this check can miss help mechanisms with other names - review those manually.

Positions differ slightly between pages

WCAG requires the same relative order, not identical pixel positions. A contact link that is always last in the footer is consistent even if pages have different footer lengths. Approve findings where the relative placement holds.