Recommendation 16.1.3 Placement of distinguishing information
The New Zealand Web Standards 2.0 were released in March 2009 and replace the previous version, the New Zealand Government Web Standards 1.0 (below). See Meeting the standards for more information.
The Recommendation
Recommendation 16.1.3 Placement of distinguishing information. Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.
Guide to this recommendation
Place appropriately worded “headers” at the beginning of each content “block”, i.e. chapter, paragraph, sentence etc. The header should have the minimal number of words possible, to convey the meaning of what the block represents.
Employing and/or gaining the assistance of a specialist in written content are also useful.
This recommendation covers the W3C WAI checkpoint 13.8 for NZ government agencies.
Rationale for this recommendation
Users wish to find whatever they are seeking as soon as possible, and having to scan through volumes of content is tiring and cumbersome. Users with visual impairments can tire very quickly, making it impossible to continue searching.
Placing distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists etc, assists the speed to scan through content, and eliminates the need for reading through unnecessary content.
