WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Document headings

for

From: L Snider
Date: Feb 27, 2024 4:57AM


I personally don't agree with their approach. For me, there is one H1 and
then H2’s, etc. like you described below.

I dont follow wcag for headings, I go way further. In my view, wcag is
flawed in its approach to heading order and numbers. In my view, numbers
are there for a reason. Everyone I ever met who relies on a screen reader
every day told me this, so that is what I do.

Sometimes the document does start with a paragraph. I’ve had that happen a
few times, that’s not a major issue in my view. Screen, reader users, who
rely on the technology every day, usually list the headings first (not
every single one, of course because everybody’s different, but almost
everybody, I’ve ever met has told me this-There is no ‘here’s how to use
the screen reader’ school, most people I know, learned the technology on
the fly, and not through an organization).

I always recommend not to put important things in a header or footer,
because they can often be invisible.

I would personally agree with your approach.

Cheers

Lisa


On Tue, Feb 27, 2024 at 7:30 AM Claire Forbes < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Good morning,
> I have a question regarding Heading Levels, please see the below for
> context and I'll ask my question at the end.
>
> I created a one-page document that flowed with the following document
> styles:
>
> * The document title as a Heading Level 1 <H1>
> * Then a Paragraph of content <P>
> * Then goes into a Heading Level 2 + the next section of content <H2>
> <P>
> * The rest of the document goes from various <H2> to <P> until the end
> The document title is also in the header and the company logo is in the
> footer.
>
> Our QA office reviewed the document and removed the document title as
> Heading Level 1, started the document with a paragraph of instruction, then
> made all my original Heading Level 2s into Heading Level 1s.
> So here's the QA's document structure: <P>, <H1>, <P>, <P>,<P>,<H1>, <P>,
> <P>, <H1>, <P>, etc....
>
> Can someone please confirm this is non-complaint? A document should always
> start with an <H1> and not a <P>, correct?
> Just because the document title is in the header of the document that's
> not a case for compliance because screen readers don't read headers and
> footers, correct?
>
> Thank you!
> Claire
> > > > >