Re: Heading structure with 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 2.4.1 Bypass Block

Matt,
regarding your comment: 
"There?s also the case of 2.4.1 Bypass Block which boggles my mind as 
well. How is having an semantic and sequential heading structure an 
acceptable replacement for a skip-to-content link? Sure, headings are 
great for screen reader users, but people who are unable to use a mouse 
for any reason cannot skip to headings using a keyboard without assistive 
technology or access keys (as far as I know)."

I agree that without some AT or access key like feature can a non-mouse 
user jump to the heading or region or main content.  But isn't that really 
a requirement better implemented in a user agent?  Such that it is 
consistent across all web sites for that user and not dependent on how 
each web site owner implements it on their page.  I also ask why a sighted 
user would ever want to "skip" or "jump" to a main content heading.  The 
main content is visible, why would they want to "jump" to a heading?  All 
headings are not interactive and do not require keyboard focus.  Screen 
Reader and Magnifier user move the point of regard, not the keyboard 
focus, to read or see the headings.   There was a thread on this list 
about requiring a keyboard access plug-ins and extensions for IE, Firefox, 
Safari, and Chrome that would allow for "skipping" or "jumping" from 
heading to heading, or region to region (e.g. ARIA Landmarks) that are 
very useful for "fast and targeted scrolling" for sighted non-mouse users. 
 Also discussed is having the default focus placed on the best first 
interactive element for everyone (e.g. the password field on a log-in 
page), etc. 

Remember again that the visible point of regard (e.g. where the screen is 
being read or being magnified) is very different that where the keyboard 
focus is placed. Confusing the two is a common problem when sighted uses 
test with screen readers and magnifiers. 
__________
Regards,
Phill Jenkins
pjenkins@us.ibm.com
Senior Engineer & Accessibility Executive
IBM Research Accessibility
ibm.com/able
facebook.com/IBMAccessibility
twitter.com/IBMAccess
ageandability.com




From:   Matthew Putland <matthew.putland@mediaaccess.org.au>
To:     "w3c-wai-ig@w3.org" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Date:   01/02/2017 08:56 PM
Subject:        Heading structure with 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 
2.4.1  Bypass Block



Hi WAI interest group,
 
This is an issue that?s been doing my head in for a while. I?m sure that 
we can all agree that skipping heading levels (like jumping from a <h1> 
element to a <h3> element) is not recommended. The main issue here is that 
the relationships of the headings can become confused and heading 
navigation using assistive technologies becomes more limited (e.g. using 
the number 1-6 on a keyboard allows you to skip to specific heading levels 
when using screen readers like JAWS and NVDA, but becomes fairly useless 
in web content with poor heading structure).
 
Despite these issues, can anyone explain why skipping heading levels 
fails/doesn?t fail 1.3.1 Info and Relationships? If presentation is used 
to visually show different heading levels, then surely the headings on the 
page must also have a semantic and sequential heading structure? There?s 
also technique H42, which talks about using headings in a semantic and 
sequential way.
 
I find that many website developers/designers will assign a certain style 
to a heading level, and then base their heading structure on the 
presentation of the headings and don?t pay any attention to the sequential 
heading structure of the page.
 
 
There?s also the case of 2.4.1 Bypass Block which boggles my mind as well. 
How is having an semantic and sequential heading structure an acceptable 
replacement for a skip-to-content link? Sure, headings are great for 
screen reader users, but people who are unable to use a mouse for any 
reason cannot skip to headings using a keyboard without assistive 
technology or access keys (as far as I know).
 
Cheers,
 
Matthew Putland
Senior Analyst, Digital Accessibility | Media Access Australia 
61 Kitchener Avenue, Victoria Park WA 6100
Tel: 08 9311 8230 (direct) 02 9212 6242 (main) Mobile: 0431 924 288 Web: 
www.mediaaccess.org.au
 
My working hours are from 11am-7:30pm AEST (8am-4:30pm AWST).
 
Media Access Australia - inclusion through technology and Access iQ® - 
creating a web without limits. Follow us on Twitter @mediaaccessaus 
@AccessiQ