WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: How best to code "hidden" headings?

for

From: Jared Smith
Date: Jan 27, 2009 11:00AM

On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 8:50 AM, Jens Meiert < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Two cents, literally: WebAIM itself once published a technique that's
> considered accessible [1] – however these techniques do collide with
> guidelines from a few search engines [2,3].

Though there is no indication that this particular technique actually
results in any search engine issues. It is used on many web sites,
including our own, that enjoy very good search engine rankings.

This approach should only be used in places where it is truly
necessary. For the most part, the only time you would want to provide
content for screen reader users but not other sighted users is when
there is content that is clearly available visually, but that may not
be apparent to screen reader users.

On the WebAIM site we use it to:
1. Provide a label for the search input box which is clearly
identified visually.
2. To identify the beginning of breadcrumbs. Again, visual users can
see the breadcrumb text as a whole and understand the convention.
3. To identify the beginning of the advertisements - also very
apparent visually, but not so much to someone listening linearly.

Jared Smith
WebAIM