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Re: ARIA heading - hierarchy and screen readers

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From: Gunderson, Jon R
Date: Apr 8, 2015 4:10PM

Geri,

The role=heading does require an aria-level attribute, see.
http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/roles#heading

In general through you should use a standard heading element (e.g. H1, H2,
H2Å ), ARIA should be reserved for cases when there are not native
semantics for the feature or it is a repair situation and the code changes
would affect behavior or styling of the original web resource.

Jon


On 4/8/15, 1:00 PM, "Druckman,Geri" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

>Hi,
>
>We¹re in the process of re-doing our website, and with it a re-design.
>Within the re-design we have several floating components, and by
>Œfloating¹ I do not mean CSS but they can be placed in varies spots on a
>page. Those components are short, promo like, snippet that have a
>title/header like line, a short paragraph, and a Œcall to action¹ link at
>the end of it.
>
>Something like the following:
>Strength in Numbers (=title)
>Whether you¹re a fighter or caregiver, support is available to you and
>your loved ones. (=short paragraph)
>Connect with the Anderson Network (Êll to action link)
>
>My question is, should the title of this short promo snippet marked as a
>header?
>If not, we stop here, and it¹s all good.
>
>If it should be a header then this is where I have the next question.
>Those components can be placed anywhere on the page, and there is no way
>to predict header hierarchy, and proper nesting.
>
>My initial thought was to mark those titles with ARIA role=³heading² and
>NOT use a aria-level. Is it acceptable to just use role=³heading²
>without designating the header level?
>
>I also noticed when testing it (VoiceOver on MacOS 10.9.5, and JAWS
>15.0.12085) that there are differences in how screen readers handle
>role=³heading² without a specific level.
>
>JAWS read all the none defined role=³heading² as heading level 2
>regardless of their place on the page, or what the previous header was,
>and VoiceOver read all (with or without a level indicated) as "A X
>Header².
>
>In your opinion, can and should those promo snippets be marked with just
>role=³heading² and no level, or should they just be left as-is untouched?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Geri Druckman
>
>Web Development Specialist
>
>Accessibility & Usability
>
>Department of Digital Experience
>
>MD Anderson Cancer Center
>
>T 713-792-6293 | F 713-745-8134
>>>>