Rationale
The page title is the text that appears in the title bar (top left) of a browser. It's an important navigation aid, especially for screen reader users, as it confirms where they are within your site, information that may not appear again until well into the page.
If no page title is defined, the full web address or a default name assigned by the page authoring software, such as "Untitled" will appear in the title bar. This is what a person accessing a page using speech or braille output will hear first.
When it is meaningful this information can be used to enhance the navigation of the site. It can also be used to help people understand the website structure, just as a breadcrumb trail might. Visually too, many people often refer to this page to verify where they are in the site.
Techniques
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Short and meaningful page titles should be used wherever possible. This isn't the place for the company motto. In as few words as possible, let users know what content will be found on each page.
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Reverse the order of the information in the title, so the first information to be heard is the most relevant to that particular page. This way, the company name and even the section of the website can also be included, without causing undue repetition. For example, use "Homepage - RNIB" rather than "RNIB - Homepage", almost like a breadcrumb trail in reverse.
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Unique and logical names should be chosen for each page, both to distinguish one from another and to assure users that they have arrived at the page they wanted. For example "Press release - Launch of Web access centre - RNIB".
Example of a good page title:
<head>
<title> Press release - Launch of Web access centre - RNIB </title>
</head>
Examples without page title:
Example with page title:
Testing techniques
Automated tests will help you ensure that all pages actually have a TITLE but the relevance and length require manual checking.
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Automated tools - Some automated tools can flag up pages that share the same or missing page titles.
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Accessibility toolbar - Go to Doc Info, Page information (opens in a new window).
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Browser - Perform visual checks by simply loading the page into a browser and reading what the title bar has displayed. Clicking on the down arrow by the browser "Back" button will list the last 5 or so pages you have visited. Check that each is:
a) Present.
b) Relevant.
c) Unique within the site.
d) Fully visible, if you are in any doubt about whether some part of the title isn't showing, you can view the code, (looking for the content between the <TITLE> and </TITLE> tags.
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Screen reader - Using JAWS, you can hear what the page title sounds like, press INSERT + T.
Compliance with WCAG 1.0
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13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites. Priority 2
For more information on techniques visit the Web Accessibility Initiative techniques page.