[bcab] Re: accessibility of DIV vs P tags

Karen,
 
    Damon's pretty much spot on. The div tag and the p tag could be
interchanged and providing they were styled appropriately with CSS, they
could even be made to look pretty much the same. The real difference would
come in the fact that the semantic structure of the page would be all wrong.
 
    The p tag is intended to be wrapped around paragraphs of text, the div
tag is intended to divide blocks of the page into sections. The two things
are entirely different entities. Using them the wrong way around is like
using poor grammar in written texts.
 
    If you happen to be using a screen reader which provides shortcut
navigation keys on web pages, then the p shortcut key will move you from one
paragraph to the next. Screen readers like this rely on the semantic
structure of a page in rder to behave usefully to the user. If there are no
paragraphs, the shortcut key won't work and given that there would obviously
be text on the page, it gives a misleading impression.
 
 
    I would suspect that the code of the page wouldn't be valid, given what
you've said. If you're talking serious accessibility with these guys, then
it's worth pointing out that the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), upon which the RNIB See It Right guidelines are based, require that
the code of a page is valid. It's a Priority 2 checkpoint, which means that
if you were targeting WAI accessibility, you'd be unable to claim Double-A
accessibility on the site.
 
 
    If you are interested in more information, version 1.0 of the guidelines
can be found here:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/
 
 
    Version 2.0, which are still officially in draft, can be found here:
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
 
    Lastly, the quickest way to pick up on code problems is to use the W3C
code validator, which can be found here:
http://validator.w3.org/
 
    Hope some of this helps.
 
Regards,
Tink.
 
  

  _____  

From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Damon Rose
Sent: 29 November 2006 11:58
To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bcab] Re: accessibility of DIV vs P tags


technically I dont' think there is any problemw ith div tags? But I do find
that using div tags alone without <p> tags tends to make for poor spacing of
content using a screenreader. 
 
If anyone else could add to this I'd also benefit here.
 
thanks 
 
 
 
 

  _____  

From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Karen Packham
Sent: 29 November 2006 11:39
To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bcab] accessibility of DIV vs P tags



Hi,

 

I am a freelancer who, among other things, works on the content and
usability of websites. Having put one major website through the RNIB?s See
It Right audit a few years ago, I also try hard to ensure that the websites
I work on are accessible, although of course that is somewhat down to the
commitment of my clients ? but I do my best.

 

However, while I have a reasonably broad understanding of aspects that
affect accessibility, I usually rely on good web agencies to look after the
coding side of things. 

 

On one of my current projects I have come across something that worries me,
so hope that someone on this list can enlighten me on the following: what is
the difference in terms of <DIV> tags and <P> tags when it comes to
accessibility? The main page content on this particular site (which was set
up before I got involved) all seems to be using DIV tags instead of P tags.
It?s not what I would expect to see, but I don?t know if it?s actually an
accessibility problem and want to find out before I talk to the agency
involved.

 

If anyone can help, I?d be really grateful.

 

Thanks,

 

Karen

 

Karen Packham

Editorial and website services

 

 


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