A Digital Accessibility Quick Reference Guide

Heading tag

Titles and Heading 1s

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Titles and heading 1 are critical for screen reader users, each with a different purpose.

Title

  • The HTML <title> tag for web pages. Seen in the browser and search result pages.
  • The Document Title field for PDF, InDesign, Word, PowerPoint, etc. Usually found in the Document Properties.
  • Screen readers use document titles to identify the active document.
  • A webpage or document can only have one title.

Heading 1

  • The HTML heading 1, the <h1> tag.
  • Available in HTML, PDFs, Microsoft Word, and most text editors.
  • Documents can have more than one heading 1, but web pages are clearer when they only have one.

Accessibility Tips for Titles and Headings

Webpages

  • Title: 
    • The first thing a screen reader reads when a webpage loads.
    • Not part of the table of contents style navigation that screen readers use to quickly navigate different sections on a webpage.
  • Heading 1: Defines the main idea of the page.
    • Part of the table of contents style navigation that screen readers use to quickly navigate different sections on a webpage.
    • The accessibility best practice is to have one heading 1 per webpage because it is easy for screen readers users to find it by pressing the number 1 key on the keyboard.
    • Although HTML specifications allow for more than one heading 1 per page, most screen reader users expect only one.

Documents

PDF Documents

  • Title: 
    • The first thing a screen reader reads when a PDF opens.
    • Not part of the table of contents style navigation that screen readers use to quickly navigate different sections of a document.
  • Heading 1:
    • Part of the table of contents style navigation that screen readers use to quickly navigate different sections of a document.
    • In long documents, use multiple headings 1’s to indicate the main sections of the document, like parts and chapters.
    • For short documents, only one heading 1 is needed. It should be the same or similar to the title.

Microsoft Word and Other Text Editors

  • Title:
    • The first thing a screen reader reads when a document opens.
    • Not included in the table of contents style navigation for navigating the page.
  • Heading 1:
    • In long documents, use multiple heading 1s to indicate the main sections of the document, like parts and chapters.
    • In short documents, only one heading 1 is needed. It should be the same or similar to the title.