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list or headings?

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From: Rick
Date: Mar 5, 2024 11:32AM

Hello:



I am creating a web application and one of the pages allows a user to view a
list of project links that can be clicked to populate the main content.



The page begins with a banner and main navigation landmark which occupy the
entire page width. Under this is a secondary navigation landmark on the left
where the projects are listed. To the right of this is the main content
landmark.



The project navigation region begins with a filter mechanism to filter the
list of projects. Hence, the list could be empty or only contain one item.
Each project entry consists of a link to the project details (which, when
clicked, will be shown in the main region) and some additional lines of text
like completion date, number of members, etc. Some of these additional
entries may also be links.



I am wrestling with whether to use headings or an unordered list for the
projects list to facilitate easy screen reader navigation. The list has the
added benefit of informing a screen reader user of the number of entries. It
has the disadvantage of for a single item, it is a bad practice to use a
list. However, changing to some other method for this case would pose a
change to a users expectation, so I would continue with a list of one item.



I could also use headings, but I personally do not like headings in any
region except the main region. If headings are used, they would all be at
the same level for each project without a heading at level 1 as a main
heading, since the main section will contain a heading at level 1 to begin
the section.



Your thoughts?



Rick Blair

Senior Principal Digital Accessibility Program Manager

Schneider Electric