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Re: Pdf heading levels

for

From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Dec 5, 2017 9:03PM

While the HHS checklist does not mention PDF/UA, you are allowed to use it,
as long as you create the structure correctly. Incorrect structures would
be a violation of 3.1 and 3.2. Skipping over headings would be a violation
of 3.4. The PDF checklist does not mention PDF/UA to basically to prevent
confusion, but that does not prevent use.

Note: questions like this usually get routed to me officially. This should
not be seen as an official answer, you can point to it if you reach out to
DCD.

--
Ryan E. Benson

On Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 2:39 PM, Alan Zaitchik < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
wrote:

> I guess this is the bottom line here.
> Thanks, Bevi and Steve for your input.
> A
>
> On 12/5/17, 1:15 PM, "Chagnon | PubCom" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> Remember, the client is HHS.
> Do what they want or you might lose your grant funding from them.
> They make the call about their material, not anyone else on this list
> or elsewhere.
> And they are very strict about maintaining accessibility guidelines.
>
> --Bevi Chagnon
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Steve Green
> Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2017 12:39 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Pdf heading levels
>
> Whilst I would report this as a technical non-compliance, I would not
> be at all concerned if it was not fixed. It's an issue that comes up a lot
> and there is often no right answer.
>
> In all the user testing I have done I have never seen anyone have a
> problem with minor non-compliances in the nesting of headings like this.
> Consistency in the use of headings is much more important.
>
> As you have said, you could pass the accessibility test by removing
> the H4 heading but that would not benefit anyone. My experience is that few
> screen reader users are capable of maintaining a mental model to the level
> of accuracy that they would notice incorrect nesting, but they do have
> problems if headings are not applied where they should be.
>
> Steve Green
> Managing Director
> Test Partners Ltd
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Chagnon | PubCom
> Sent: 05 December 2017 17:00
> To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Pdf heading levels
>
> 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
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Alan Zaitchik
> Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2017 11:24 AM
> To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Subject: [WebAIM] Pdf heading levels
>
> Hi folks. I would appreciate your advice on the following.
>
> I am working on a Word to PDF conversion. The document systematically
> has a structure of (for example) Heading Level 2 material followed by a
> "Quick Tips" or "Checklist" paragraph followed by several Heading Level 3
> blocks of material. This repeats throughout some 90 pages. The Heading 2
> and Heading 3 blocks really make sense as such, but my question is what to
> do about the "Quick Tips" or "Checklist" blocks. They deserve to be listed
> in the Table of Contents on their own lines, and the easiest way to do this
> is to make them Heading Level 4 items. They are certainly not at the same
> semantic level of the H3 items. But then I get a complaint from the
> Accessibility Checker in Acrobat that the heading levels are incorrectly
> nested. Should I ignore this complaint? Should I not assign any heading
> level to these blocks but rather indicate in some other fashion that they
> are "asides" or "sidebars"? They're not, really—they are written as
> continuous text in the stream of the presentation. So the real semantic
> order genuinely is
> H1 – H2 – H4 – H3 – H3 – H4 – H3 – H3 etc.
> I would like to know if there is reason to care about the
> (mis)ordering/nesting of the heading levels.
>
> The client is ultimately HHS.
>
> Thanks,
> Alan
>
> Center For Social Innovation
> Needham, MA
>
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