I am using a Chrome outliner extension to check the semantics of my page. It seems to be a problem to have any structural element before the h1 in the document main header tag. I was thinking the order does not matter, but apparently it does:
+Document Body
+Header
+nav
+h1 Main Navigation
+h1 MyPage
-Section
-Footer
Does outline like this:
Untitled Body
Main Navigation
MyPage
etc...
But when the h1 is the first element in my header:
+Document Body
+Header
+h1 MyPage
+nav
+h1 Main Navigation
-Section
-Footer
it does outline like this:
MyPage
Main Navigation
etc...
Why is that? Is the outliner buggy, or did I understand something wrong in HTML5 semantics? The W3C Specification does not seem to mention it: http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/Overview.html#the-header-element
After revisiting the specs, I agree that the h1 does not have to be the first element. I suspect the issue is with the chrome extension you are using.
I ran the following two scenarios through this HTML outlining tool and received the same results (My Navigation appears under My Header):
With h1 second element under header:
<body>
<header>
<h1>My Header</h1>
<nav><h1>My Navigation</h1></nav>
</header>
<section><h1>My Section</h1></section>
<footer></footer>
</body>
With H1 first element under header:
<body>
<header>
<nav><h1>My Navigation</h1></nav>
<h1>My Header</h1>
</header>
<section><h1>My Section</h1></section>
<footer></footer>
</body>