[Athen] Heading 1 best practice: document vs web

[Jennifer Sutton]

I suppose I would go with what Gaeir said. I should *think* there'd be 
less need for multiple h1s in Word and PDFs, but that's based on my 
experience. Your mileage may vary.


I would *imagine* multiple h1s might not be ideal from a visual 
standpoint, whether on web or in documents, but I suppose that'd depend 
on your documentation settings/ability to control.

When I see multiple h1s on a web page, especially, I pretty much figure 
that whoever's built it doesn't actually know anything about using 
headings to convey structure/meaning, so my sense of how they're using 
headings is called into question. Or I might know enough to figure out 
that the system they're using didn't give them control. I'm less 
suspicious of multiples of other heading levels, beyond 1. And when I 
write a Word document, I never use more than one heading. But this could 
all just be one person's experience.

What I would say is that, in my experience (both my lived experience and 
my experience of working with developers and content creators), 
consistency is really helpful within a site or document for *everyone*.

What I was trying to get at was that you seem clear on the web, and I 
don't think it's as cut and dry as I would expect Word and PDFs to be., 
given that the issue's been being debated for years.

My point is that everyone wants a one-size-fits-all solution, and it 
doesn't really work like that in my experience of the real world, i.e. 
across websites, LMSs, CMSs on various platforms, and documents. Now, if 
your office has the power to enforce something campus-wide . . . but 
that's not been feasible/realistic in my world.
It all depends on which "rigidity" battles you choose to/are able to fight.

In my experience, accessibility is as much about philosophy as it is 
about checkpoints/*current*/feasible best practices. If somebody's going 
to create wide-reaching guidance, then I think it helps to know the 
risks and realities of the debates.

I am sorry that my detailed response may have confused you; I'll 
remember that people on this list tend to prefer less minutia than I'm 
inclined to give. It's not a problem; I just need to curb my tendencies 
to share history/speak/raise issues from that standpoint.

Good luck.
Jennifer

On 3/25/2017 6:20 PM, Preast, Vanessa wrote:

>

> Should I take this to mean that it is OK to apply Heading 1 more than 

> once in a Word document as long as one does so consistently?

>

> Thanks,

>

> Vanessa

>

> *From:*athen-list 

> [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] *On Behalf Of 

> *Jennifer Sutton

> *Sent:* Saturday, March 25, 2017 3:45 PM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network 

> <athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Heading 1 best practice: document vs web

>

> For my money, best practices for documents are clearer than they are 

> for the web. See citations of recent discussions, below. I believe 

> it's critical to be realistic when it comes to heading 

> recommendations, especially on the web.

>

> Basically, I think there are a lot bigger "accessibility fish to fry" 

> than trying to be absolutely rigid about the idea of one h1 on a webpage.

>

> I think it's hard, and not realistic,  to have a one-size-fits-all 

> rule on the web, given the use of content management systems. So, for 

> the web, I focus on the idea of *consistent* use of headings, and that 

> benefits everyone, including those who are in charge of style sheets.

>

> But for documents, my tendency would be to say: "if it works like a 

> book, make it work like a book . . . i.e. h1 is your title, so there 

> should be only one." Documents are much easier to control, or, they 

> *can* be, depending on tools and competency. Given all of the document 

> checkers and toolbars for accessibility that are around, they should 

> be helping make Word documents and PDFs better.

>

> Best,

>

> Jennifer

>

> Three citations, mostly web-focused and two of the three based on 

> recent discussions of trying to automate headings:

>

> The myth of automated heading outlines

>

> http://sarahebourne.posthaven.com/the-myth-of-automated-heading-outlines

>

> The Document Outline Dilemma:

>

> https://css-tricks.com/document-outline-dilemma/

> [longer than the citation above, but includedto help understand that 

> this is not simple/clearcut and why, imo]

>

> A page in a WAI tutorial, in progress:

> http://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/headings/

>

>

> On 3/25/2017 12:42 PM, Preast, Vanessa wrote:

>

>     Hello,

>

>     I’m trying to put together a best practice handbook for our

>     stakeholders. While H1 use is clear for webpages, I have not

>     really been able to get a consensus answer on using Heading 1 in

>     documents. Is Heading 1 always only used once to mark the title,

>     or can it be used multiple times in a Word document? If the

>     former, it seems to not fit well with the auto-generated table of

>     contents, which pulls in H1, H2 and H3 by default…. What about

>     book chapters vs book title?

>

>     *True or False?*Heading 1 can be used multiple times within a MS

>     Word document assuming the rest of the headings are nested

>     appropriately. (Unlike a webpage which only uses Heading 1 once

>     per page).

>

>     If there is a definitive answer on using Headings in documents,

>     can you refer me to them? I want to make sure I’m providing the

>     best information.

>

>     Thanks,

>

>     Vanessa

>

>

>

>

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