Tonico,
At the risk of flogging a dead horse, I realised that I gave you only an
opinion instead of a reason why there should be only one <h1> on a page.
I think it is critical that even if there are two distinct topics on a page,
there must be some overall summary of them, and this should be used on the
pages <title></title> and in the pages <h1></h1>. Why? If not for sighted
people, then at least for blind users.
Let's use a ridiculous example - a page with two topics - "frogs" and
"bats".
1. titles - what to use
-------------------
First of all, on a page with two distinct topics, what you would use for
your page <title>?
A. "Frogs"?
B. "Bats"?
C. "Frogs and Bats"? - this third option is the only one that describes the
pages contents. It is also looking like a good example of an overall <h1>.
2. Confusion over page content
-------------------
What about blind users accessing the page's contents. There are many ways
they could access the content, but they may let the screen reader go
straight into reading the contents on the page (rather than skimming via
links or headings). Assuming you have wrapped both headings (frogs and bats)
in <h1> elements the first thing a blind user will hears is <h1>Frogs</h1>.
I have watched blind users in action. They do not have the luxury of
glancing over the page to check out its contents. They often have to make
quick decisions on what is on a page. They may assume (based on the pages
main heading) that this page is about "Frogs". After all, it is the first
title on the page and there is no mention of bats. And what if the blind
user was looking for bats? They may quickly leave the page assuming it was
only on frogs. The blind users I have watched have to make many more span
decisions than blind users. "Do I want to sit here and listen to this entire
page or is this quick section I have read enough to tell me the content is
probably not here?".
3. Logical content breakup
-------------------
>From a purely logical point of view there should never be totally unrelated
sections of content on one page - this would confuse sighted and blind
users. There must be a reason you decided to put frogs and bats on the same
page - some thematic between the two topics. For example:
"Frogs and Bats of Eastern Australia"
"My special interests - frogs and bats"
"Tasty meals - frogs and bats"
If any of these were used as a title and the <h1> on the page, the content
would have much more meaning for a blind user (as well as a sighted user).
Blind users coming to this page are given a clear indication that on this
page as both frogs and bats are mentioned. Even better, these two topics are
described along with their thematic relationship. Anyone reading these
headings would instantly understand and accept the two topics on the page
now.
With a descriptive heading like one of the examples above, content becomes
more accessible to a blind user. If they were interested in bats, they can
skip over the frogs section, knowing that there is info on bats below.
4. Accessible markup
-------------------
For blind users especially, but also for sighted users, the markup would be
much more understandable (and therefore accessible) as:
<title>Frogs and Bats of Eastern Australia</title>
<h1>Frogs and Bats of Eastern Australia</h1>
<h2>Frogs</h2>
Blurb about frogs...
<h2>Bats</h2>
Blurb about Bats...
Does this make sense? I know... I really have to get a life :(
Russ
> We could probably argue this back and forward, but I feel very strongly that
> there should be only one <h1> on a page and it should be the page title. I
> used to think it should be the site name but am moving away from that stance
> now.
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