[Athen] Heading 1 best practice: document vs web

[Jennifer Sutton]

ATHENites:

Thanks for patience. Likely this was clear, but I wanted to be sure.


I wrote, in part:

"And when I write a Word document, I never use more than one heading. 
But..."


What I *meant* to write was that I never use more than one heading at 
level 1 in a Word doc. I try, as I imagine we all do, to use heading 
styles in Word to create an outline.


Inaccurate, despite proofreading!

Best,

Jennifer



On 3/25/2017 7:04 PM, Jennifer Sutton wrote:

>

> 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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