ACT Rule 2779a5
HTML page has non-empty title
This checks that the page has a title element with something in it. That is the whole test.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is approved, which in W3C's process means it was implemented in full by at least one tool or methodology and then signed off by a working group. Approval is a statement about tools, not a statement that this is the settled way to test the criterion.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 2.4.2 Page Titled is not satisfied, and that half is certain. When it passes, W3C's own outcome mapping says the criterion still needs further testing. So a green result here is evidence that one specific thing is not broken, and it is the answer W3C gives on 59 of its 87 live rules.
A title reading "Home" passes. So does "Untitled document". The criterion asks for a title that describes the topic or purpose of the page, which is the next rule along, and that one is the rare case where a pass clears the criterion. Open ten of your own pages in ten tabs and see whether you can tell them apart.
The criteria this rule is a test for
These are the criteria the rule names as its own conformance requirement. Each one is a far bigger question than this rule asks, and our page for it sets out what the whole criterion covers.
- 2.4.2 Page Titled Level A
The normative rule text lives at W3C
What the rule applies to, and exactly what it expects, is published by W3C and can change. We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source. Read rule 2779a5 at W3C.
Each page needs a unique title so people can tell them apart
A page title is the first thing a screen reader announces on load. It is what fills a tab, a bookmark and a search result. It is how someone with twelve tabs open finds their way back.
It has to exist and it has to differ from the other pages on the site.
One title reused across a whole application, usually the product name alone, leaves every page identical in the tab strip and in history. Users cannot tell which tab has which page.
Fixes that satisfy it
If this rule fails on your site, these are the techniques that put it right.
Other rules W3C files under the same criteria
Each of these asks a different question about the same part of the standard. Passing all of them is still not the same as satisfying the criterion.
- HTML page title is descriptive A tool can check this
All 87 ACT rules are grouped by the criteria they test, and 24 of them decide nothing about WCAG on their own. Run a free scan to see which of these your own pages trip.