Page Titled - Success Criterion 2.4.2 (Level A)

Question

Does every page in your site, application or document have a descriptive title?

Why is this important?

Descriptive titles on every page help users to quickly identify where they are in the site, application, or document. These titles provide information about content on the page and help differentiate web pages when multiple tabs are open. Additionally, search engines display page titles when searching for specific content.

Whom does it benefit?

Example 1

As a person with severe mobility impairment,
I want page titles to be descriptive, short, and unique
so that I can navigate the web page using audio commands.

Example 2

As a person with a cognitive disability,
I want to be able to identify the content of the page based on its title
so that I can determine if the page is relevant to the information I am looking for.

What should you do?

• Identify the subject or purpose of each page.
• Use a descriptive title that is short and concise.

How do you do it?

• Site page titles should be coded in HTML using a <title> tag.
• Document page titles should be added to the properties metadata.
• Make sure the title is descriptive of the page content.

Need technical guidance?

Technical guidance is available for implementing this Success Criterion at the Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.2: Page Titled page.

Additional resources to help you

• Luke McGrath’s 2.4.2 - Page Titled (Level A) - WUHCAG
• Understanding Web Accessibility: 2.4.2 Page Title - IDRC Resources