- Success Criterion 2.4.2
- Conformance level A
Page Title Where the Distinguishing Word Gets Cut Off
2.4.2 — Page Titled
Scenario
Setting
A community forum's discussion thread
What’s wrong
Keyword-stuffed or truncated-first titles where the distinguishing part is unfindable (topic effectively absent at announce time).
Example
<title></title>Why it matters
Screen-reader users who hear the title first, and anyone managing many tabs.
How to test
Check a long or keyword-stuffed title as it truncates in the browser tab: if the distinguishing part gets cut off and isn't findable, it fails in practice.
How to fix
Every page/view must have a unique, descriptive title identifying its content, updated on in-app navigation.
<title>Checkout — Step 2 of 3: Shipping — Acme Store</title>A descriptive, unique title lets users identify and switch between tabs or windows without guessing.
Outcome
On a community forum's discussion thread, this barrier is gone for screen-reader users who hear the title first — they no longer have to work around this.
Who is affected
Screen-reader users who hear the title first, and anyone managing many tabs.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- Page Title That Doesn’t Say What the Page Actually Is
- Page Published With a Missing or Empty Title Tag
- Identical Page Title Repeated Across an Entire Website
- Single-Page App Title That Never Updates Between Views
- Page Title That’s Just the Brand Name, No Topic
- Page Title That Doesn’t Reflect the Current Step or State