WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Pdf heading levels

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Dec 5, 2017 9:59AM

Yes, you should care about the misordered sequence of headings. Jumping from H2 to H4 is considered an error.

In situations like yours, we consider headings like Quick Tips or Checklist to be H2s (sometimes H3 is if fits the hierarchical structure). They are primary subheadings, not minor ones, and they are followed by related copy so they are headings, not body text.

In some documents they may have a different appearance, such as a change of fonts, size, and color or in a separate text box to set them off from the rest of the page's content.

It is compliant to have variations of heading styles in Word to achieve both the semantic tagging and visual formatting you need in the PDF.

Example:
"Heading 2" / <H2> tag for regular subheads in the main body text.
"Heading 2 for Quick Tips" / <H2> for the tips box heading.

Note that both headings end up with <H2> tags in the PDF, although their visual appearance can differ.

There's no standard that says all H2 tags must look the same.

Future PDF/UA tags are under development that will help make this easier and clearer to accomplish, but for now, this method works and passes accessibility checkers, especially HHS's. Of course, everything with HHS depends upon which tester reviews your file as they each have their own opinion about things like this.

— — —
Bevi Chagnon
www.PubCom.com | Technologists for Accessible Design and Publishing
print – digital – web – documents – pdfs – epubs
consulting – training – development – design – sec. 508 services
— — —
Bevi Chagnon is a US delegate (ANSI) to the ISO for PDF and PDF/UA standards