WCAG 2.0 Comment Submission

Name: Roger Hudson
Email: rhudson@usability.com.au
Affiliation: 
Document: W2
Item Number: Provide mechanisms to help users find content, orient themselves within it, and navigate through it
Part of Item: 
Comment Type: GE
Comment (Including rationale for any proposed change):
Guideline 2.4 is concerned with providing mechanisms to help users find content, orientate themselves within it and navigate through it. Nearly all text-based information on the web is currently presented using (x)html, and WCAG 1.0 required the appropriate use of header elements to convey the structure of these documents. That is, the H1 header element should be used for the main heading of the page. Subsequent headers (H2, H3 etc) should be used to identify and present different sections and sub-sections of content on the page.



Many users of assistive technologies rely on appropriate header elements to skim through information and easily locate the different sections of a page. The Last Call draft puts the requirement to use headers appropriately under SC 1.3.1. I am concerned that if there is no specific SC relating to this issue, we will increasingly see a range of different CSS classes being used to identify (and control the presentation of) headings or heaven forbid, a return to the font element. Such a situation will greatly compromise the ability of screen reader users to find content and navigate through documents.



Proposed Change:
Given the importance of well-structured headers for screen reader users, I believe Guideline 2.4 should contain an additional Level 1 Success Criteria that reads, \"Each heading and subheading is presented using appropriate header elements that reflect the structure of the document and can be reliably interpreted by users agents including assistive technologies.\"

Received on Saturday, 20 May 2006 06:35:10 UTC