Pages need to be marked up in a reading order that makes sense. The flow of page elements such as headers, footers, navigation, and the main content area are key to a screen readers understanding of the page.
Screen readers process the content as it's marked up. If the content doesn't have semantic markup, a screen reader may not pass on its context, making it harder for users to understand. Screen readers recognize headings, links, lists, forms, and so on, and announce what those elements are before reading through their contents. Organize information to have with meaning (semantic structure). Design with text and create information hierarchies. When the presentation is disabled, the web content should still be able to communicate its message effectively.
Users should be able to bypass extraneous or irrelevant pieces of content in order to focus on the content of interest to them. They should be able discern the structure of the content by its headings, subsections, bulleted lists, and other elements of semantic markup.
Well organized content helps users to orient themselves and to navigate effectively. Such content includes:
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Pages have clear titles and are organized using descriptive section headings;
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There is more than one way to find relevant pages within a set of web pages;
Users are informed about their current location within a set of related pages;
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There are ways to bypass blocks of content that are repeated on multiple pages;
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The keyboard focus is visible, and the focus order follows a meaningful sequence;
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The purpose of a link is evident, ideally even when the link is viewed on its own.