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Understanding SC 2.4.2
2.4.2 Page Titled: Web pages have descriptive titles. (Level A)
Intent of this Success Criterion
The intent of this success criterion is to help users find content and orient themselves within it by ensuring that each Web page has a descriptive title. Titles identify the current location without requiring users to read or interpret page content. When titles appear in site maps or lists of search results, users can more quickly identify the content they need. [begin add]User agents make the title of the page easily available to the user for identifying the page. For instance, a user agent may display the page title in the window title bar or as the name of the tab containing the page. [2292] [end add]
Specific Benefits of Success Criterion 2.4.2:
This criterion benefits all users in allowing users to quickly and easily identify whether the information contained in the Web page is relevant to their needs.
People with visual disabilities will benefit from being able to differentiate content when multiple Web pages are open.
People with cognitive disabilities, limited short-term memory and reading disabilities also benefit from the ability to identify content by its title.
This criterion also benefits people with severe mobility impairments whose mode of operation relies on audio when navigating between Web pages.
Examples of Success Criterion 2.4.2
An HTML Web page
The descriptive title of an HTML web page is marked up with the <title> element so that it will be displayed in the title bar of the user agent.
[2292]A document.
The title of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 is "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0."
The introduction has the title "Introduction to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0."
The main body has the title "WCAG 2.0 Guidelines."
Appendix A has the title "Glossary to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0."
Appendix B has the title "Checklist for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0."
Appendix C has the title "Acknowledgements for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0."
Appendix D has the title "References for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0."
A Web application.
A banking application lets a user inspect his bank accounts, view past statements, and perform transactions. The Web application dynamically generates titles for each Web page, e.g., "Bank XYZ, accounts for John Smith" "Bank XYZ, December 2005 statement for Account 1234-5678".
Related Resources
Resources are for information purposes only, no endorsement implied.
Writing Better Web Page Titles How to write titles for Web pages that will enhance search engine effectiveness.
Guidelines for Accessible and Usable Web Sites: Observing Users Who Work With Screen Readers. Theofanos, M.F., and Redish, J. (2003). Interactions, Volume X, Issue 6, November-December 2003, pages 38-51, http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=947226.947227
Techniques and Failures for Success Criterion 2.4.2 [Page Titled]
Each numbered item in this section represents a technique or combination of techniques that the WCAG Working Group deems sufficient for meeting this success criterion. The techniques listed only satisfy the success criterion if all of the WCAG 2.0 conformance requirements have been met.
Sufficient Techniques
G88: Providing descriptive titles for Web pages AND associating a title with a Web page using one of the following techniques:
Additional Techniques (Advisory)
Although not required for conformance, the following additional techniques should be considered in order to make content more accessible. Not all techniques can be used or would be effective in all situations.
G127: Identifying a Web page's relationship to a larger collection of Web pages using a technology-specific technique
Identifying the subject of the Web page (future link)
Providing a meaningful name for identifying frames (future link)
Failures
The following are common mistakes that are considered failures of Success Criterion 2.4.2 by the WCAG Working Group.
Key Terms
- Web page
[begin add]a non-embedded resource [begin delete]that is referenced by a URI[end delete] [begin add]obtained from a single URI using HTTP[end add] plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it by a user agent [end add] [begin delete]a resource that is referenced by a URI and is not embedded in another resource, plus any other resources that are used in the rendering or intended to be rendered together with it[end delete] [1948]
Note 1: Although any "other resources" would be rendered together with the primary resource, they would not necessarily be rendered simultaneously with each other.
Note 2: For the purposes of conformance with these guidelines, a resource must be "non-embedded" within the scope of conformance to be considered a Web page.
Example 1: A Web resource including all embedded images and media.
Example 2: A Web mail program built using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX). The program lives entirely at http://example.com/mail, but includes an inbox, a contacts area and a calendar. Links or buttons are provided that cause the inbox, contacts, or calendar to display, but do not change the URL of the page as a whole.
Example 3: A customizable portal site, where users can choose content to display from a set of different content modules.
Example 4: When you enter "http://shopping.example.com/" in your browser, you enter a movie-like interactive shopping environment where you visually move about a store dragging products off of the shelves around you [begin add]and[end add] into a visual shopping cart in front of you. Clicking on a product causes it to be demonstrated with a specification sheet floating alongside.