HTML markup requirements
Use HTML heading tags to structure your copy to comply with accessibility standards.
Using proper semantic HTML tags is an important requirement for a good website, especially when it comes to accessible code. Follow these requirements to comply with accessibility standards and to help optimize content for internal and external search engines.
- Use HTML font tags (H1-H5) to structure content and reinforce the semantics, or meaning, of the information in web pages. Learn how to assign a font tag.
- Headings must be ordered hierarchically. For example, the heading level following an H1 should be an H2 not an H3. It is ok to repeat levels, for example, there may be multiple H2s on a single page but do not skip heading levels.
- Add a class such as .alpha, .beta, .gamma, .delta, .tangelo, etc. to an HTML font tag (H1-H5) when necessary to apply the desired visual style (size, font weight). Learn how to add a class.
- Don't use a heading tag on text that isn't actually a heading. Instead use a <p> tag and add a class to apply the desired size and style.
- An H1 font tag is reserved for the page's title and should only appear once per page.
- H2 is assigned to the main sections and H3 and H4 are used for subheadings.
- Use descriptive language for links to provide users with the proper context of where clicking the link will take them. Screen reader users often navigate websites going from link to link, using the tab key (or shift-tab to go backwards), so providing links that make sense is vitally important and necessary. For example, "Click here" isn't descriptive enough and would be ambiguous.
- Don’t place extra information in the links. For example, don’t say “Links to solutions page” but instead say simply “Solutions."
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