Re: Using <h2> as subtitle in W3C specifications

agree.


Matt King
IBM Senior Technical Staff Member
I/T Chief Accessibility Strategist
IBM BT/CIO - Global Workforce and Web Process Enablement 
Phone: (503) 578-2329, Tie line: 731-7398
mattking@us.ibm.com



From:   Robin Berjon <robin@w3.org>
To:     "spec-prod@w3.org" <spec-prod@w3.org>, 
Cc:     Steve Faulkner <sfaulkner@paciellogroup.com>
Date:   03/12/2015 06:58 AM
Subject:        Using <h2> as subtitle in W3C specifications



Hi all,

it is the current practice in W3C specifications to use an <h2> element 
for a specification's subtitle (either the actual subtitle, or the "W3C 
$SPEC_STATUS $DATE" part.

It so happens that this is a practice which is frowned upon by the HTML 
specification:

     "h1–h6 elements must not be used to markup subheadings, subtitles,
      alternative titles and taglines unless intended to be the heading
      for a new section or subsection."
     -- http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/common-idioms.html#sub-head


The suggested fix would be to transition to using a <p> element with a 
specific class. This is what HTML5 used to do (because it had special 
dispensation to break stuff) but that won't be possible with the new 
automatic publishing system. Also, it's nicer to follow our own 
suggestions in general.

If this is agreed upon, we'll have a transition period so that everyone 
has time to make this small change.

-- 
Robin Berjon - http://berjon.com/ - @robinberjon