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Re: Multiple H1 tags in an HTML5 web page

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From: Jared Smith
Date: Mar 10, 2014 6:44PM

Greg Gamble wrote:

> http://goo.gl/hAIJOR

This is an interesting article. One should read the comments
(especially Steve's).

I think what this boils down to is that there are often differences
between what HTML5 says you can do and what is optimal for
accessibility. Despite what HTML5 says you *can* do here (and again, I
note that it recommends AGAINST doing this), having h1s in each
section is not optimal for accessibility in the ways that have been
outlined.

> Google SEO and Multiple H1's:
> http://youtu.be/GIn5qJKU8VM

It's nice to hear this verified by Google. But I think most of what
Matt says backs up my opinion, not yours. Use headings where it makes
sense. A few <h1>s isn't going to break SEO and it won't make a page
"inaccessible". Using <h1>s for every section, however, would probably
be bad on both fronts.

> As for the one way in which users would be benefited ... read a properly formatted HTML5 blog.

Yes, in the case of a blog homepage where individual posts are
presented, having multiple h1s in sections (I'd argue that <article>
is better here) would be advantageous for the author so they don't
have to re-structure headings. But it isn't at all better for the end
user. Still, it may be a reality that one has to deal with. But in
this presentation, if you also used section h1s in your blog entries,
there would be at least 3 levels of <h1>s. This would truly be a
nightmare for any user hoping to decipher or navigate via the actual
heading structure of the blog homepage.

Jared