Using Proper HTML Elements for Better Accessibility

Tutorial 2 of 5

Introduction

Goal

The goal of this tutorial is to learn how to use the correct HTML elements to enhance the accessibility of your web content. We'll delve into specific HTML semantic tags and their proper usage.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this tutorial, you will learn:
- What semantic HTML tags are
- How to use HTML tags for better accessibility
- Best practices for using HTML elements

Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of HTML is required. No other prerequisites are needed.

Step-by-Step Guide

Semantic HTML

Semantic HTML is the use of HTML markup to reinforce the semantics or meaning of the content. For example, <p> for paragraphs, <h1> for main headings, <nav> for navigation links, etc.

Examples

<header>: This element represents a container for introductory content or a set of navigational links.
<nav>: This tag is used to define a set of navigation links.
<main>: This tag is used to specify the main content of a document.
<footer>: This tag defines a footer for a document or a section.

Best Practices

Always use a language attribute in the <html> tag.
Use heading tags where appropriate (h1 for main title, h2 for subheadings, etc.)
Use alt attributes for images.
Use ARIA roles and properties if necessary.

Code Examples

Example 1: Semantic HTML structure

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <h1>Page Title</h1>
        <nav>
            <a href="#">Link 1</a> |
            <a href="#">Link 2</a> |
            <a href="#">Link 3</a>
        </nav>
    </header>
    <main>
        <h2>Subheading</h2>
        <p>This is some text.</p>
        <img src="image.jpg" alt="Description of image">
    </main>
    <footer>
        Copyright information
    </footer>
</body>
</html>

This code snippet is a template for a basic webpage with semantic HTML tags. It includes a header with a title and navigation links, a main section with a subheading, some text, and an image with an alt description, and a footer with copyright information.

Summary

In this tutorial, we learned what semantic HTML is and how to use it to improve the accessibility of our web content. We explored the usage of various HTML tags and learned some best practices.

Next Steps

For further learning, explore more about ARIA roles and properties. You can also practice using different semantic tags and test your webpage with screen readers.

Additional Resources

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Create a simple webpage using only semantic tags.
Exercise 2: Add alt descriptions to all images in the webpage.
Exercise 3: Use ARIA roles in your webpage to improve accessibility.

Solutions

Solution 1: Refer to the code example provided above.
Solution 2: <img src="image.jpg" alt="Description of image">
Solution 3: <nav role="navigation">, <main role="main">, etc.

Tips for further practice

Try to use as many different semantic tags as you can. Test your webpage with different screen readers to make sure it's accessible.