Re: Skipping of headings

The "Organizing a page using headings" technique applies to Level A's SC
1.3.1, Info and Relationships, and Level AAA's SC 2.4.10, Section Headings:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG-TECHS/G141.html

It says:
"To facilitate navigation and understanding of overall document structure,
authors should use headings that are properly nested (e.g., h1 followed by
h2, h2 followed by h2 or h3, h3 followed by h3 or h4, etc.)."

Whether or not skipped heading levels cause problems is down to a user's
preferred means of navigation. Personally, I like to see a clearly
structured main content, and consistent use of headings in other page
areas. In the majority of cases, I don't believe it is difficult to
maintain heading structures.

Jon


On 20 October 2014 14:16, Jonathan Avila <jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com> wrote:

>  Ø  headings outside the “main content area” should be allowed to skip
> heading levels
>
>
>
> If you look at H42 (
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2013/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20130905/H42) which is a
> sufficient technique for SC 1.3.1 it does not have a test step to verify
> the order doesn’t skip levels.  My understanding is that not skipping
> levels is considered advisory for Level A and AA.
>
>
>
> I know many US government agencies require heading levels match the visual
> levels – matching is different from not skip any heading levels.  I’d say
> matching the visual levels is what is most important as it conveys the same
> structure as what is presented visually.
>
>
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
> *From:* Oscar Cao [mailto:oscar.cao@live.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, October 20, 2014 7:57 AM
> *To:* 'WAI Interest Group'
> *Subject:* 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
>



-- 
Jon

http://dotjay.co.uk/
dotjay@dotjay.co.uk

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