- Success Criterion 1.3.1
- Conformance level A
- W3C reference F43
Structural HTML Tags Used Purely for Visual Styling
1.3.1 — Info and Relationships
Scenario
Setting
A fashion e-commerce site's checkout page
What’s wrong
Structural markup is used for looks, not meaning (e.g., blockquote just to indent, a heading tag just for big text) — screen readers announce false structure.
Example
Open a fashion e-commerce site's checkout page and this is what you'll see: structural markup is used for looks, not meaning (e.g., blockquote just to indent, a heading tag just for big text) — screen readers announce false structure.
Why it matters
Screen-reader, braille, and reading-tool users who depend on coded structure rather than visual layout. The practical effect on a fashion e-commerce site's checkout page: they can't tell how the page is organized.
How to test
Inspect suspect structural tags (e.g., blockquote used only for indentation): check the Accessibility Tree — if the tag implies meaning that isn't actually there, it fails.
How to fix
Use structural markup only for its meaning — achieve indentation and font size with CSS.
Outcome
That one change on a fashion e-commerce site's checkout page means they understand how the page is organized.
Who is affected
Screen-reader, braille, and reading-tool users who depend on coded structure rather than visual layout.
Learn more
- Understanding Understanding document (opens in a new tab)
- Technique Related technique (opens in a new tab)
Related scenarios
- Text Styled to Look Like a Heading Instead of Coded as One
- Text Columns Faked With Spaces Instead of Real Table Markup
- Table Layout Faked With Spaces Instead of Real Table Code
- Clickable Div Acting as a Link Button With No Real Role
- Layout-Only Table Wrongly Coded With Real Header Cells
- Tabular Data Placed Inside a Preformatted Text Block