Headings are used to provide meaning and structure for readers to easily navigate their way around a document. Think of headings as including an outline. More than simply just bolded or italicized words, headings provide extra information about the structure of the document at the code level.  

Headings use a structure indicating rank or level. The most important heading has the rank of Heading 1 (<h1>). Heading 1 is often used to denote the title. Most word processing applications also have a style of Title, which may be used instead of Heading 1. Additional headings range from Heading 2 (<h2>) through 6 (<h6>).   

Skipping heading ranks can be confusing and should be avoided when possible. Going from a Heading 2 straight to a Heading 5 would not make sense. There should be a natural hierarchy to follow as you move through the document. Bringing back a higher heading is appropriate and signifies a new section. For example, you may skip from heading 4 (<h4>) to heading 2 (<h2>) to denote a new section has begun. If you use Heading 1 for a title, only skip back to Heading 2 for a new section. 

Headings Example

Creating headers is an easy task, as Microsoft Office (Word) provides a Style Guide with Title and Headings 1-6 tools available. You can modify the default font, color, and size to match your style in each document.  

Benefits of Headings

Headings are useful for both readers and writers. Headings can generate a table of contents or interactive outline that anyone can use in documents such as Word and PDF. 

For Readers

Headings can help with the following reading strategies:

• Getting an overview of the content before reading
• Scanning for important content
• Jumping to a particular section
• Breaking the reading into manageable chunks
• Easily referring back to a section when reviewing or studying

For Writers

When writers use real, structural headings (instead of just bolded or enlarged text), they can: 

• Save a lot of time on organizing content before and while writing
• Generate a Table of Contents and an interactive outline in Word
• Easily navigate, reorder, and delete content
• More efficiently format content throughout the document

For Persons with a Screen Reader

Screen Readers use header information to identify rows and columns

• Provide a structured outline of the document or webpage allowing the person to navigate sections
• Adds clarity to writing by identifying the subject matter of the sections
• Easily can locate specific details within a document or webpage

Headings Guidelines

You can apply headings in documents, slides shows, email, webpages, and Blackboard courses. Menus allow you to select headings in any text editor you use. 

• Decide on a hierarchy (outline). Before you start, develop a layout of the document to follow for consistency. Keep the order from heading 1 through Heading 6 without skipping in between. You can move from a lower head back up when creating a subsection or new section. 
• Use headings judiciously. One heading level is usually plenty for a page or two of content. For long content, you might need to use additional heading levels. For example, this guide uses four heading levels. 
• Keep headings clear, concise, and descriptive. Put the most important idea at the beginning. This is especially critical in blogs and social media. 
• Be as specific as you can. Be more detailed with lower-level headings. For example, a second-level heading should be more specific than a first-level heading. 
• Focus on what matters to readers. Choose words they'd use themselves. In most cases, don't talk about products, features, or commands in headings.
• Use parallel sentence structure for all headings at the same level. For example, use noun phrases for first-level headings, verb phrase   

Resources

• How to Make Materials Accessible – many more Learn Mow/How To’s 
• Microsoft Writing Style Guide – Headings 
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative – Writing for Accessibility