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Re: requiring the use of headings

for

From: Krack, Joseph@DOR
Date: Jan 9, 2015 9:32AM

Regarding Headings, in addition to 2.4.6 and 2.4.10, I point to 1.3.1 in
my standards.

Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Bourne, Sarah
(ITD)
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2015 8:23 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] requiring the use of headings

I know how useful properly-implemented headings are to screen reader
users, but I'd like a little help in identifying exactly which WCAG2
Guideline or success or failure criteria would be cited. Specifically,
my interest is in pages and web-based applications where there is text
that is styled to look like a heading, introducing and identifying a
section of the page, but it is not marked up as a heading. (I have a
similar issue with the use of images or asterisks to look like a list
without using the list markup.)

"2.4.6 Headings and Labels: Headings and labels describe topic or
purpose. (Level AA)" seems like the obvious choice, but Understanding
SC 2.4.6 specifically says, "This success criterion does not require
headings or labels."

"2.4.10 Section Headings: Section headings are used to organize the
content" is level AAA, but in practice, it seems more important than
that.

2.4.10 refers to " 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value" for applications, but there
is no mention of headings there.

"4.1.1 Parsing" talks about not using semantic elements only for visual
effect, but I don't see anything there about using a visual effect to
mimic a semantic element.

"4.1.2 Name, Role, Value" covers "user interface components," but
nothing about the name and role of semantic text elements.

A good document map is one of the first things I look for, so I am
puzzled why I can't find a success criteria that addresses this clearly.
I hope it's just that I am overlooking something obvious, and that
somebody here can help point it out.

sb
Sarah E. Bourne
Director of IT Accessibility
Massachusetts Office of Information Technology Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
1 Ashburton Pl. rm 1601 Boston MA 02108
617-626-4502
<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.mass.gov/itd

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