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From: Claire Forbes
Date: Wed, Oct 23 2024 7:02AM
Subject: PDF and heading structure
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Good morning, everyone -
I'm struggling with some PDF reviews as I'm flagging documents as non-compliant (under item 1.3.1: Heading tags are provided in appropriate sequence (<H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.)) because all headings in the documents are <H1> tags. I made the recommendation to tag the cover page title as <H1> and all subsequent headings as <H2>, <H3>, etc. (all headings after the cover page title visually look the same, so I didn't think the cover should be <H> and then all others <H1>)

I have verbiage from WebAIM regarding headings: "Headings create an outline for the page, similar to a term paper outline or table of contents. The <h1> describes the page as a whole (and should be similar to the page <title>). A page should typically have only one <h1>. Headings <h2> through <h6> represent increasing degrees of "indentation" in our conceptual "outline"." (https://webaim.org/techniques/semanticstructure/)

I have a table of information from Section 508.gov "<H1> Heading 1: Document's title; <H2> Heading 2: Chapter or main-level headings; <H3> - <H6> Heading 3 - Heading 6 Subsequent subheadings" (https://www.section508.gov/create/pdfs/common-tags-and-usage/)

Anyone have other resources I can reference to help back the stance that it's not beneficial to have headings all tagged as <H1>?

Thank you,
Claire

From: Steve Green
Date: Wed, Oct 23 2024 8:27AM
Subject: Re: PDF and heading structure
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I think people over-complicate this. The programmatic heading structure simply needs to reflect the visual heading structure. If there is an overarching visual heading for all the content, it should be the one and only <h1>. But not all documents contain such a visual heading. If there isn't one, it means the document contains a number of sections that are at the same logical level, in which case their headings should all be <h1>. That's absolutely fine.

If any of those sections contain subsections, their headings should be <h2> and so on.

Most of the guidance you will find typically assumes there is an overarching visual heading or states that there should be one. If there isn't one and you don't plan to add one, nothing else those sources say is relevant.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Wed, Oct 23 2024 8:28AM
Subject: Re: PDF and heading structure
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Hi Claire,

> I'm struggling with some PDF reviews as I'm flagging documents as non-compliant (under item 1.3.1: Heading tags are provided in appropriate sequence (<H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.)) because all headings in the documents are <H1> tags.

It’s acceptable (in the PDF 1.7 context) to use <H1> for the title and <H2> as the top “heading level” tag for the document.

If H1 has been used for the title, and If all headings in the document represent the same semantic level then H2 is correct for all such headings.

> I made the recommendation to tag the cover page title as <H1> and all subsequent headings as <H2>, <H3>, etc. (all headings after the cover page title visually look the same, so I didn't think the cover should be <H> and then all others <H1>)

Indeed, the title should never be <H> unless all the headings are <H> and the file is thus “strongly structured”, but this is an edge-case avoided by most.

I hope this is useful.

Duff Johnson
PDF Association
pdfa.org

From: Laura Roberts
Date: Thu, Oct 24 2024 8:37AM
Subject: Re: PDF and heading structure
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The federal department of health and human services section 508 guide.
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-tagging.pdf

On Wed, Oct 23, 2024, 11:52 AM Claire Forbes < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Good morning, everyone -
> I'm struggling with some PDF reviews as I'm flagging documents as
> non-compliant (under item 1.3.1: Heading tags are provided in appropriate
> sequence (<H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.)) because all headings in the documents
> are <H1> tags. I made the recommendation to tag the cover page title as
> <H1> and all subsequent headings as <H2>, <H3>, etc. (all headings after
> the cover page title visually look the same, so I didn't think the cover
> should be <H> and then all others <H1>)
>
> I have verbiage from WebAIM regarding headings: "Headings create an
> outline for the page, similar to a term paper outline or table of contents.
> The <h1> describes the page as a whole (and should be similar to the page
> <title>). A page should typically have only one <h1>. Headings <h2> through
> <h6> represent increasing degrees of "indentation" in our conceptual
> "outline"." (https://webaim.org/techniques/semanticstructure/)
>
> I have a table of information from Section 508.gov "<H1> Heading 1:
> Document's title; <H2> Heading 2: Chapter or main-level headings; <H3> -
> <H6> Heading 3 - Heading 6 Subsequent subheadings" (
> https://www.section508.gov/create/pdfs/common-tags-and-usage/)
>
> Anyone have other resources I can reference to help back the stance that
> it's not beneficial to have headings all tagged as <H1>?
>
> Thank you,
> Claire
> > > > >

From: L Snider
Date: Thu, Oct 24 2024 9:22AM
Subject: Re: PDF and heading structure
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I would agree with your assessment Claire. I almost always have one H1 in a
document. Anyone I know who uses a screen reader has always told me that is
what they wanted, and then the H2 would follow for sections, etc. I ignore
some of WCAG and go with the people I know and have talked to...Headings
are very important if you can't see the document. The 508 resource is a
good one.

Others may go different paths.

Cheers

Lisa



On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 12:52 PM Claire Forbes < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Good morning, everyone -
> I'm struggling with some PDF reviews as I'm flagging documents as
> non-compliant (under item 1.3.1: Heading tags are provided in appropriate
> sequence (<H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.)) because all headings in the documents
> are <H1> tags. I made the recommendation to tag the cover page title as
> <H1> and all subsequent headings as <H2>, <H3>, etc. (all headings after
> the cover page title visually look the same, so I didn't think the cover
> should be <H> and then all others <H1>)
>
> I have verbiage from WebAIM regarding headings: "Headings create an
> outline for the page, similar to a term paper outline or table of contents.
> The <h1> describes the page as a whole (and should be similar to the page
> <title>). A page should typically have only one <h1>. Headings <h2> through
> <h6> represent increasing degrees of "indentation" in our conceptual
> "outline"." (https://webaim.org/techniques/semanticstructure/)
>
> I have a table of information from Section 508.gov "<H1> Heading 1:
> Document's title; <H2> Heading 2: Chapter or main-level headings; <H3> -
> <H6> Heading 3 - Heading 6 Subsequent subheadings" (
> https://www.section508.gov/create/pdfs/common-tags-and-usage/)
>
> Anyone have other resources I can reference to help back the stance that
> it's not beneficial to have headings all tagged as <H1>?
>
> Thank you,
> Claire
> > > > >