ACT Rule b49b2e · proposed
Heading is descriptive
This asks whether each heading describes the section under it. "Section 2" is a heading. It is not a description.
A tool can decide this one on its own, which is why it turns up in scanner output. The rule is proposed, so it has not yet been implemented in full by a tool and reviewed by a W3C working group, and the wording can still change.
What passing this rule proves
When this rule fails, 2.4.6 Headings and Labels 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.
Headings are how most screen reader users move around a page, so this matters more than it looks on paper. W3C notes that testing tools disagree about empty headings and that the rule leaves them out, because no harmonized approach exists yet. Pull up your heading list on its own and read it from top to bottom.
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.
- 2.4.6 Headings and Labels Level AA
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 We link to it rather than restate it, so nothing here can quietly fall out of date against the source.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 b49b2e at W3C.
Text that exists is not the same as text that means something
Some rules go past whether text exists and ask whether it says anything. A heading called Section 2, a link called read more, a label called field. Each one is filled in and each one is empty of meaning.
This matters most to people who navigate by jumping. Screen reader users pull up a list of the links or headings on a page and read that list on its own, with no surrounding text to understand it by.
Repeated link text is the clearest case. Five links all reading read more are indistinguishable in a list. However clear they look beside their paragraphs, the list alone reveals they are all the same.
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.
- Form field label 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.