Section Headings
Section headings are used to organize the content within long-form pages, where appropriate.
What it requires
WCAG 2.0 SC 2.4.10 (AAA) requires that long-form pages (blog posts, policy pages, FAQ articles) be broken into headed sections. The criterion explicitly says "where appropriate" — short pages and form-only pages are exempt.
Pages without subheadings force screen-reader users to read sequentially. Subheadings let them jump-navigate to the section they want.
Common Shopify failure
Blog post that is a single 2,000-word block with no `<h2>` subheadings. Privacy policy that is one continuous prose document.
How to fix it
AccessComply detects long prose blocks with no subheadings and flags them for the merchant to add structure.
Merchant QA checklist
- Scan the storefront page where this pattern appears: product pages, collection pages, cart drawer, customer-account pages, and any landing page built with theme sections.
- Confirm the issue is fixed in the rendered browser output, not only in the Liquid file. Shopify section settings, app blocks, and third-party scripts can reintroduce the same 2.4.10 failure after a theme edit.
- Re-test the affected component with keyboard navigation and a screen-reader accessibility tree before publishing the theme, especially when the fix changes markup or ARIA attributes.
How AccessComply handles it
AccessComply treats WCAG 2.4.10 as a rendered-storefront issue first. The scanner checks the live DOM and computed styles, maps the finding back to the Shopify theme file that produced it, then classifies the fix as a manual-review finding. When automation is safe, the app writes the smallest theme-code change needed and keeps the original theme backup available. When merchant judgment is required, the issue is surfaced for manual review instead of pretending the page is fixed.
Primary source: W3C — WCAG 2.0 Understanding 2.4.10