RE: Headers Are Confusing in HTML5

So, then why have it at all? Shouldn't be expose the role when it exists?

-----Original Message-----
From: Léonie Watson [mailto:lwatson@paciellogroup.com] 
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2015 1:30 AM
To: info@3zero.co.uk; public-html@w3.org
Subject: RE: Headers Are Confusing in HTML5

> From: info@3zero.co.uk [mailto:info@3zero.co.uk]
> Sent: 27 November 2015 01:34
> As a developer I find the current advice for Headers somewhat 
> confusing. I understand each area of the page can now have headers but 
> is that good for semantics? Surely a document only needs one set of 
> headers contained within the main article content of the page. To have 
> headers in all
sections
> would that not prove more problematic for screen readers? I am totally 
> baffled as to how to correctly markup a webpage now where as before I 
> would use headers to summarise the main content of the page. Your 
> advice would be gratefully received.

The browser should only expose the <header> (or <footer>) when it is scoped to <body> [1]. If it is a child of <section>, <article>, or another sectioning element, the role should not be exposed and screen readers should therefore be unaware of it.

So <header> is useful to screen reader users as part of the high-level document structure and ignored otherwise. It is therefore ok to continue using <header> elsewhere in your document as you usually would.

Léonie.
[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/html-aam-1.0/ 

--
Senior accessibility engineer @LeonieWatson @PacielloGroup

Received on Monday, 30 November 2015 18:08:01 UTC