Skipping of headings

Hello All

 

I'm sure there's been quite a bit of debate on the skipping of headings
issue. I totally agree headings that reside within the "main content area"
of the page should not have any skipping of headings whatsoever. However,
for SEO and various other reasons, headings outside the "main content area"
should be allowed to skip heading levels. What I mean by this is, for
example:

 

<header role="banner">

<h2>My website's name</h2>

</header>

<div>

<nav role="navigation">

<h5>Left Hand Navigation</h5>

<ul>.</ul>

</nav>

</div>

<section role="main">

<h1>main heading</h1>

<p>.</p>

<h2>second level heading</h2>

<p>.</p>

<h3>third level heading</h3>

<p>.</p>

Etc.

</section>

<aside class="side">

<h6>Some heading</6>

</aside>

<footer role="contentinfo">

<h6>Footer Links</h6>

</footer>

 

 

What I would like to know is, what is the official WCAG 2.0 stand on this
specific scenario. Is this conforming to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines or
non-conforming; if it is the latter, what is the correct solution/markup to
use?

 

Thanks,

Oscar