Appropriate headings and labels

Silktide highlights pages that contain headings or form labels so you can confirm the wording describes the topic or purpose of what follows. Whether a heading truly describes its section is a judgment only a person can make.

Why this matters

Headings are how people skim a page, and labels are how they understand a form. Screen reader users lean on them even harder: a common way to explore a page is to jump from heading to heading, hearing each one out of context. A heading like "More information" or a label like "Field 2" tells them nothing, so they must read the surrounding content to work out what it means - the very work headings and labels exist to save.

How to fix it

This check asks you to review pages rather than reporting confirmed problems. For each highlighted page:

1. Read each heading and ask whether it describes the topic of the content below it. "Opening hours" works; "More information" does not.
2. Read each form label and ask whether it describes what to enter or what the control does. "Email address" works; "Input" does not.
3. Rewrite any that fail the test. Headings and labels do not need to be lengthy - a word or phrase is fine if it is descriptive.

How Silktide tests this

1. Look for heading elements (h1 through h6), <label> elements, and ARIA labeling attributes (aria-label or aria-labelledby) on each page.
2. If the page contains any of these, raise it once for manual review. Silktide cannot judge automatically whether the wording is descriptive.

Learn more

• Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.6: Headings and Labels (WCAG 2.2)
• G130: Providing descriptive headings (WCAG technique)
• G131: Providing descriptive labels (WCAG technique)