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Re: Multiple H1 tags in an HTML5 web page

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From: Greg Gamble
Date: Mar 10, 2014 1:04PM

I understand, but the numbers pointing to the use of a single H1 on a page as less desirable then having multiple H1's. The idea that a single H1 on a page is correct has changed with HTML5. And as you said, not all pages would need to do this and I get that, but a FAQ or Blog page would benefit from its use.

So adding them per the HTML5 spec seems to me the way to go, if it makes sense to do so.

Another survey with HTML5 markup and multiple H1's in sections would be interesting to read ...

Greg


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 11:17 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Multiple H1 tags in an HTML5 web page

Greg Gamble wrote:
> Those answers tell me that the use of multiple H1's is the way to go.

That's not how I would interpret the survey response. The survey asked about having the site name/logo and the document title both be <h1>s.
Just 1/2 of respondents thought this optimal. This is quite different from your scenario where each section has its own H1.

What you presented would be acceptable in HTML5, and would present an appropriate outline if the outlining mechanism were implemented. But because it's not, your heading structure is not optimal for most documents. It's not "inaccessible", but most users expect one first level heading for a document and sub-headings representing each sub-section. Having <h1>s for each section could cause confusion.

Jared