WDS 1
Predictable: Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
Guideline 3.2
The main idea behind a web page being predictable is to help users with disabilities move around each web page in a web site without changing the "scenery" per se.
"Users with cognitive limitations may become confused if components appear in different places on different pages."
An example given is that if the layout is consistent through the whole site, users with disabilities and even those without will be able to find navigation bars, menus, and content a whole lot easier. It has also been an advice in the past to keep web page structure similar to convention, for example, header and logo at the top, left of the page and footer near the bottom.
One success criterion that I have tried to implement in all my web pages that will agree with predictability is the use of consistent navigation. As you see at the top, I implement breadcrumbs to show the user where they came from and where they are at now. Also all logos and headers lead back to the main page of where they came from.
The guideline for this success criterion is set forth here:
"Consistent Navigation: Navigational mechanisms that are repeated on multiple Web pages within a set of Web pages occur in the same relative order each time they are repeated, unless a change is initiated by the user."
