1.11 Add titles to frames
WAI checkpoint 12.1
Full WAI text: "Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation."
Frames allow the designer to break a web page into different pieces, each containing a different HTML file. Frames are often used is to break the page into two sections - one containing information which does not change as the user travels through the site and the other presents more dynamic information. A typical example is where the main navigation for a site is presented in a frame on the left side of the page, while content is presented in another frame on the right.
In this case, the navigation links are held in one HTML file on the left of the page while the content is held in another HTML file, which is called up depending on the link selected from the left frame. Clicking a link on the left essentially causes a new page to open in the right hand side of the browser window.
Each frame should have a title, even though this is not displayed visually.
Rationale
Users of older browsers or screen readers have difficulty in navigating web pages with frames. A user who can visually scan the page to determine the relationship of the page elements might not even notice if frames are used and will easily envisage the page structure but users who can't see the entire page don't have this ability.
For example, if a screen reader user opens a page with frames, they are presented with a list of the frames that make up the page. If the frames don't have titles, the user is presented with a list of file names, which have no meaning, e.g. -Frame: a'. The lack of useful information about the contents of the frame forces the user to open each frame, one by one, review their contents and figure out how it relates to the other frames on the page. This is frustrating and time consuming.
Directions and Techniques
Do not use frames purely for presentation purposes
Frames can offer benefits from a functional point of view but if the only reason you have for using them is purely aesthetic, then it is best not to use them. Most of the accessibility problems caused by the use of frames arise because they are a structural element, inappropriately used for visual layout.
Use the "title" attribute to name frames
When you code the HTML for frames, ensure that the "'title" attribute is used to provide a name for each frame. Treat frame titles or names like link titles and ensure that they have meaningful names which provide users with a good idea about the content of the frame, e.g. "main site navigation" is a better name than "nav". See WAI recommended techniques for using the "title" attribute to name frames
How you could check for this:
There are no specific test methods recommended for this guideline.
Guidelines for Web Accessibility - Priority 1- 1.1 Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
- 1.2 Ensure that information does not rely on colour perception
- 1.3 Avoid causing the screen to flicker
- 1.4 Provide an auditory description of the visual information in multimedia presentations
- 1.5 For multimedia, ensure that timing of alternative descriptions is synchronised with the presentation
- 1.6 Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate
- 1.7 Identify language changes in text
- 1.8 Ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes
- 1.9 For data tables, identify row and column headers
- 1.10 For complex data tables, use mark-up to associate data cells and header cells
- 1.11 Add titles to frames
- 1.12 Ensure that documents can be read without style sheets
- 1.13 Provide text links to emulate server-side image maps
- 1.14 Use client-side image maps rather than server-side image maps where possible
- 1.15 Ensure that scripts and applets that provide the only source of important functionality are directly accessible or compatib
- 1.16 Ensure that pages are usable without support for scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects
- 1.17 If you cannot make a page accessible, provide an equivalent accessible page
