This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung →
Semantic structure: using header, nav, main, footer correctly
Semantic elements say which part of a page is the main content and which is navigation, header, or footer. The check verifies whether a page marks up these areas — without it, every evaluation system has to guess what the actual content is.
- The benefit is twofold: screen readers offer jump links to these areas, and evaluation systems can separate navigation and footer from the content. With no markup, the menu ends up inside the cited text.
- A page built entirely from div elements looks visually identical and is structurally blind. Switching to the matching elements costs little and takes effect immediately.
