AccessLint Rule: Documents must have a <title> element to provide users with an overview of content.

About this AccessLint rule

Every HTML page needs a <title> element inside the <head> that contains descriptive, non-empty text. The page title is the first thing announced by screen readers when a user loads a page, and it appears in browser tabs, bookmarks, and search engine results. Without it, users have no quick way to identify the purpose of a page.

Screen reader users are affected most directly. When switching between multiple open tabs or windows, screen readers read the page title aloud. If no title exists, the user hears something like "untitled" or a raw URL, which gives no useful information about the page content. Sighted users also rely on page titles in browser tabs to distinguish between open pages, especially when many tabs are open at once.

This rule maps to WCAG 2.4.2 (Page Titled), a Level A requirement. Level A is the minimum conformance level, meaning every web page must satisfy this criterion to meet WCAG at any level. The criterion requires that web pages have titles describing their topic or purpose.

How to fix this

Add a <title> element inside the <head> of every HTML page.
Make sure the title text is not empty or whitespace-only. It must contain meaningful words.
Write a title that describes the specific content or purpose of the page. Generic titles like "Page" or "Untitled" do not satisfy the requirement.
Keep titles unique across the site. If multiple pages share the same title, users cannot tell them apart when switching between tabs.
Put the page-specific part of the title first, followed by the site name. For example, use "Contact Us - Acme Corp" rather than "Acme Corp - Contact Us." This way, screen reader users hear the distinguishing information immediately instead of hearing the same site name repeated at the start of every page.

This issue is marked as "contextual" for fixability because writing an appropriate title depends on understanding the content and purpose of each page. An automated tool can detect a missing or empty <title> element, but it cannot generate a good title for you.

Examples

Missing title element

This page has no <title> element at all. A screen reader will not announce a meaningful page name.

<html>
  <head>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Contact us</h1>
    <p>Send us a message using the form below.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Empty title element

A <title> element that contains only whitespace is treated the same as a missing title.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>   </title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Contact us</h1>
    <p>Send us a message using the form below.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Correct: descriptive title with site name

The title describes the page purpose and includes the site name after the specific content.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Contact Us - Acme Corp</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Contact us</h1>
    <p>Send us a message using the form below.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Correct: simple standalone page

Even a minimal HTML document satisfies the rule as long as it has a non-empty <title>.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Weekly status report</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <p>This week's updates are listed below.</p>
  </body>
</html>

Page with an iframe

When a page embeds another HTML document using an <iframe>, the outer page still needs its own <title>. The rule applies to the top-level page; embedded documents inside <iframe> elements are not separately checked by this rule because they are not standalone web pages in the WCAG sense.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Dashboard - Acme Corp</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Dashboard</h1>
    <iframe src="embedded-report.html" title="Monthly report"></iframe>
  </body>
</html>