Re: Redundant instruction in titles damaging accessibility

Thank you Caroline, for the view and anecdotal evidence.

It is most helpful to hear both and at a minimum helps me confirm my view and provides additional weight for convincing clients.


Regards,



Alan



Alan Bristow ( he / him / il )

Web Developer / Développeur Web

Accessibility / Infographics

Elections Canada / Élections Canada

alan.bristow@elections.ca<mailto:alan.bristow@elections.ca>



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From: caroline <woodward.caroline@gmail.com>
Sent: 27 June 2025 10:34
To: Bristow, Alan <Alan.Bristow@elections.ca>
Cc: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Redundant instruction in titles damaging accessibility

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Hi Alan,
I agree that version 2 is better. Most resources provide general guidance advising to keeping descriptions concise. The heading "Topics" does imply that a list of topics could be expected to follow.

I once had a working session with a customer who is blind. He was experiencing challenges with a webpage and in response to the descriptive text, I said to me, "I am blind, not stupid." That has always stayed with me when it comes to copy. I found sharing that sometimes helps people better understand that while well-meaning sometimes it can be too much.

On Thu, Jun 26, 2025 at 5:25 PM Bristow, Alan <Alan.Bristow@elections.ca<mailto:Alan.Bristow@elections.ca>> wrote:
Hi,

Focusing on the text of the H2, does anyone have something specific I can reference in support of my position that the v1 example is worse due to:

a). verbosity: unnecessary title text resulting in less rather than more clarity

b). breaking with an established pattern: all other cases of anchor link navigation in the site avoid verbose unnecessary additional title text

Note: V1 and V2 examples comprise identical unstyled H2s followed by unstyled UL > LI > A anchor links. Markup conforming to best practices.

V1
- - -
Topics - select from the following menu

News
Sport
Culture
Arts
Travel


v2
- - -
Topics

News
Sport
Culture
Arts
Travel


Thanks in advance for any comments.


Regards,



Alan



Alan Bristow ( he / him / il )

Web Developer / Développeur Web

Accessibility / Infographics

Elections Canada / Élections Canada

alan.bristow@elections.ca<mailto:alan.bristow@elections.ca>