Rule library Text alternatives

Documents must have <title> element to aid in navigation

document-titleWCAG 2.0 A

Ensure each HTML document contains a non-empty <title> element

Who this affects

The page has no <title>, so browser tabs, bookmarks and screen-reader page announcements have nothing to show.

How to fix it

Add a unique, descriptive <title> to every page.

Effort Low · ~5 min per page

Before and after

Fails

<title>Home</title>

Passes

<title>Kettles and toasters — Example Kitchen</title>

Where this sits in the standard

WCAG success criterionLevelEN 301 549 clause
2.4.2 Page TitledA301-549, 9.2.4.2

EN 301 549 clause 9 applies these criteria to web content. The published version referenced by the European Accessibility Act is V3.2.1, which incorporates WCAG 2.1 level A and AA. More on the standard.

How to check it by hand

Turn images off in the browser, or run the page through a screen reader and listen to the image announcements. If you hear a file name, a hash, or nothing where something meaningful should be, the alternative is missing. Ask of every image: if this were removed, what would the reader need told?

Automated testing settles roughly a third of the WCAG success criteria. This rule is one an automated tool detects reliably — but a clean automated result is not proof of conformance.

Reference

Deque's technical write-up for this rule: document-title

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