Ordered multi-page navigation design pattern: Canada.ca design

The ordered multi-page navigation pattern:

is a set of links to a group of several pages intended to be read in a preferred order
includes previous/next links to guide a person through the page set in the preferred order

Objective

Use the ordered multi-page navigation pattern to provide:

an outline of content that spans multiple pages and has a default or preferred order (for example, guides, service initiations, sequential instructions)
a method of jumping to any page within the sequence, bypassing the default order of the pages

Do not use this pattern when:

the content exists as a single page requiring scrolling to view all the subsections (use the In-page table of contents pattern )
the content exists as a set of multiple pages that does not have a default or preferred order
the default order of the content must not be circumvented that is when the preferred order is crucial and people cannot be permitted to move between pages in a different order

Always position the ordered multi-page navigation pattern at the start of the page, before the substantive content of the page begins
Ensure that the order and position of the page links are identical on each page of the set
Number the step-by-step links to indicate the preferred order. Not all links necessarily need to be numbered, if they represent pages/steps that are not part of the sequence
Highlight the link for the current page. Do not highlight with the same colour used on primary action buttons
Position previous/next links immediately below the substantive content on the page
Accompany the previous/next labels with arrow icons to reinforce the concept
Position previous/next links consistently (for example, “previous” on the left, “next” on the right)
On the first page of the document, omit the “previous” link; on the last page of the document, omit the “next” link