Structural Navigation

A mode of screen reader navigation that allows users to move through content based on its logical or semantic structure rather than reading linearly from beginning to end. In web content, structural navigation involves jumping between headings, landmarks, lists, and other HTML structural elements. In accessible charts and diagrams, structural navigation means traversing the hierarchical and relational structure of the graphical representation—moving between parent and child groupings, sibling elements, and related components. Structural navigation contrasts with spatial navigation, which organises movement by position in a coordinate space. Research suggests that both structural and spatial navigation are important for different types of graphical representations, with structural navigation being particularly effective for hierarchical charts and spatial navigation being more intuitive for diagrams with physical layouts.