The title of the web page must be descriptive enough to explain the content or functionality. A screen reader user first reads the title of the page to confirm that they are on the page They are looking for. When you landed on the page from a social media applications or through search engines, everyone looks at the title to ensure that they are on the right page.
User agents such as browsers display the title on the title bar, screen readers read them with a simple key command e.g. NVDA + t with NVDA. Title is the one shown when the user switches between the tabs. It is not required to have an unique title to each page, however the title content must be descriptive.
For an example of a good page title look at the title of this web page. It explains both the content of this page and also the title of the website. This kind of titles also benefit for search engine optimization.
Validation of page titled
- Open the page on the browser.
- Look at the title bar and read the content.
- The title should describe the content available on the page.
Validation with screen reader
- Open the web page you want test when the screen reader is switched on.
- Press NVDA + t and hear what it speaks.
- Check if the title spoken out by the screen reader explains the content of the page as well as the name of the website.
Note 1: If the point c is satisfied then this success criteria is passed. If not it is failed.
Note 2: Testing with any one of the validation method above is sufficient.
Note 3: One can also use Paul Adam’s Page title bookmarklet to test.
WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria
2.4.2 page titled (Level A)