Topic 10.A Determining what is a heading

Questions posed for 10.B and 10.C: What is a heading?

1. Should all large text be considered a visual heading? Should all large text be considered a “visual” heading even if it is not programmatically identified or just really bad styling? This test requires both conditions be met:

• Heading is programmatically determinable
• Heading is visually apparent

2. If a heading is styled with smaller font then the body text and only shows as a visual heading because it is centered. Is this a heading that fails the visual test even if it is properly marked programmatically?

3. If the programmatic output doesn’t match visual text, does that fail here or in 10C only?

4. If non-styled text is included in the header tag, is this a fail if the output is programmatically correct?

Joyce CarrSchwab

ANSWERS: Headings can be used as navigational tools. One quick question to ask to help you identify headings is whether the text should be used for navigational purposes to help identify sections of content. Test content for 10.B and 10C first requires you identify headings on the page.

• 10.A is a visual test to determine if the headings you observe describe the content beneath them. If you see large text that is acting as a heading, you would perform this test. All large or bold text on the page may not be acting as a heading.
• 10.A, 2.4.6-heading-purpose requires you look at the content beneath each heading and determine if the heading adequately describes what is there.
• 10.B, 1.3.1-heading-determinable uses the ANDI tool to determine if (1) the headings you tested in 10.A are programmatically identified as a heading and that (2) other text that you did not identify as a heading is not incorrectly programmatically identified as one.
• 10.C, 1.3.1-heading-level uses ANDI to identify that the heading level is appropriate so users can easily understand the relationships between different parts of the content.

To answer your specific questions:

1. Not all large text is necessarily a heading. Text that is obviously intended to be a heading would fail 10.B if it is just styled to look like a heading and is not programmatically identified as a heading OR if text is programmatically identified as a heading, but isn't functioning as a heading. Thus this test condition would not apply to large text that is not functioning as a heading nor programmed as a heading.
2. There is no specific styling requirements for headings. As long as you can visually determine it is intended to be a heading and it is programmatically identified as a heading, it would meet the heading requirements for 10.B and 10.C.
3. The tag must match what is on the page, you would fail in in 10.B.
4. If some of the text is styled differently in the heading tag, this is not necessarily a problem. The visually apparent heading needs to match the programmatic heading to allow navigation without confusion.