Headings As Navigational Aids
During a discussion on the GAWDS mailing list, the following was raised:
Screen reader users frequently navigate using heading lists but, is their mental model of a page impaired if a header is skipped? Or are they quite happy as long as there are headers (with clearly associated content) that they can use? Is there a valid argument for deliberately omitting headers?
Grant Broome has now posted a very informative piece describing how JAWS users actually navigate using heading lists which suggests that — yes — there is a valid argument. In fact, if you haven’t read this post already, I suggest you do so now. Whilst you may not draw the same final conclusions that Grant does, his description of how screen reader users use headings and why header consistency across a site is so important are well worth reading.
Whilst I agree with his conclusions, I do think that the scenario he describes (in which an H3 heading could be skipped) actually illustrates the importance of establishing a robust, yet flexible, basic page structure right from the very start of a site project. If sufficient time and thought is invested into developing a good practical structure before a single word is published, I think it will pay dividends later on and the chances of encountering the situation that Grant describes will be very low.