WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Thread: Headings in dialogs.

for

Number of posts in this thread: 8 (In chronological order)

From: Ramya Sethuraman
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 1:08PM
Subject: Headings in dialogs.
No previous message | Next message →

Hi,

Does it make sense to use a heading (h1-h6) to indicate the main title of a
dialog (like a dojo dialog)? The reason I ask is, if we used say h3 to
indicate the title of the dialog, then when the dialog is dismissed, is it
ok to have a missing heading level on the page assuming h3 is not used
elsewhere on the page?

Thanks,
Ramya

From: Don Mauck
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 1:14PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | Next message →

My take on headings in general is that if you can look at the page and see that it is a new section that should require a heading. Also if there is a goodly portion of text that might not be found using a paragraph keystroke than a heading won't hurt. I don't know why you would want to have h1 headings then skip and have an h3 heading, however I guess that's not terrible. I don't know that it violates any accessibility standard per say.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ramya Sethuraman [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 1:08 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Headings in dialogs.

Hi,

Does it make sense to use a heading (h1-h6) to indicate the main title of a
dialog (like a dojo dialog)? The reason I ask is, if we used say h3 to
indicate the title of the dialog, then when the dialog is dismissed, is it
ok to have a missing heading level on the page assuming h3 is not used
elsewhere on the page?

Thanks,
Ramya

From: David Ashleydale
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 1:40PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | Next message →

Don, I think Ramya is saying that the heading is not actually on the page
until someone opens the dialog. So there are no H3s when the page loads,
but if someone opens the dialogue, then that causes an H3 to be placed in
the DOM of the page. But when someone closes the dialogue, the H3
disappears.

Ramya, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving the dialogue an H
heading level and having it sometimes be on the page and sometimes not. If
it's the "title" of the piece of content that follows it, it should be
marked up as a heading. It's always nice to not skip levels and not
misorder the H levels, so do that if you can, but my reading of WCAG
indicates that if a piece of text truly meets the definition of a heading,
it's more important for it to be marked up with an H-something than not.

David

From: Don Mauck
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 1:44PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | Next message →

Given that misunderstanding on my part, I agree.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Ashleydale [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 1:41 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Headings in dialogs.

Don, I think Ramya is saying that the heading is not actually on the page until someone opens the dialog. So there are no H3s when the page loads, but if someone opens the dialogue, then that causes an H3 to be placed in the DOM of the page. But when someone closes the dialogue, the H3 disappears.

Ramya, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving the dialogue an H heading level and having it sometimes be on the page and sometimes not. If it's the "title" of the piece of content that follows it, it should be marked up as a heading. It's always nice to not skip levels and not misorder the H levels, so do that if you can, but my reading of WCAG indicates that if a piece of text truly meets the definition of a heading, it's more important for it to be marked up with an H-something than not.

David

From: Ramya Sethuraman
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 2:07PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | Next message →

Thanks, that helps!

Ramya

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 3:40 PM, David Ashleydale < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >wrote:

> Don, I think Ramya is saying that the heading is not actually on the page
> until someone opens the dialog. So there are no H3s when the page loads,
> but if someone opens the dialogue, then that causes an H3 to be placed in
> the DOM of the page. But when someone closes the dialogue, the H3
> disappears.
>
> Ramya, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving the dialogue an H
> heading level and having it sometimes be on the page and sometimes not. If
> it's the "title" of the piece of content that follows it, it should be
> marked up as a heading. It's always nice to not skip levels and not
> misorder the H levels, so do that if you can, but my reading of WCAG
> indicates that if a piece of text truly meets the definition of a heading,
> it's more important for it to be marked up with an H-something than not.
>
> David
> > > >



--
*I also exist @: http://www.ramyasethuraman.com*

From: Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 2:15PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | Next message →

On Aug 22, 2012 8:09 PM, "Ramya Sethuraman" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:
> Does it make sense to use a heading (h1-h6) to indicate the main title of
a
> dialog (like a dojo dialog)?

Is the dialog modal?

From: Ramya Sethuraman
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 2:57PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | Next message →

Yes it is modal.

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> On Aug 22, 2012 8:09 PM, "Ramya Sethuraman" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
> > Does it make sense to use a heading (h1-h6) to indicate the main title of
> a
> > dialog (like a dojo dialog)?
>
> Is the dialog modal?
> > > >



--
*I also exist @: http://www.ramyasethuraman.com*

From: Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
Date: Wed, Aug 22 2012 3:10PM
Subject: Re: Headings in dialogs.
← Previous message | No next message

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 9:57 PM, Ramya Sethuraman
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Yes it is modal.

In that case, it's effectively a self-contained document.

You might as well use <h1>.

See also:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Accessibility/ARIA/ARIA_Techniques/Using_the_dialog_role

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Accessibility/ARIA/ARIA_Techniques/Using_the_dialog_role

In the case of WHATWG <dialog>, it's a sectioning root that does not
contribute to the parent document's outline.

http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/commands.html#the-dialog-element

--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis