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Re: H1 to H4 titles sub titles....

for

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: May 2, 2011 12:48PM

Sailesh Panchang wrote:

> I will argue that h-markup is required to comply with S508 functional
> performance criteria.

The issue was not whether heading markup is used or not. Moreover,
argumentation based on free and loose interpretation of Section 508 rules is
questionable. Rules that specify whether something is legal or not are to be
interpreted rigorously: only things explicitly forbidden are to be treated
as illegal - any borderline cases are to be interpreted in favor of the
accused.

> 1194.31 (a) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval
> that does not require user vision shall be provided,

On web pages, with due provisions like alt texts, the criterion is fulfilled
fairly automatically.

> In effect, compliance with the performance criteria of �1194.31
> is the test for Equivalent Facilitation.

Equivalent Facilitation is not one of the criteria. Instead, it is used to
label this principle:
"Nothing in this part is intended to prevent the use of designs or
technologies as alternatives to those prescribed in this part provided they
result in substantially equivalent or greater access to and use of a product
for people with disabilities"
This _allows_ designs and technologies, instead of imposing restrictions.

> So if h-tags are added to the doc, they should be as per specs:
> consistent and correctly nested.

There is no specification that forbids an h4 following an h1. The specs at
most mention it as a good design principle not to skip heading levels. No
requirement. And even if there were a requirement in some HTML or WAI spec,
that would not make it part of Section 508 conformance.

Yucca