Web Services Blog

Using Accessible Headings

It is important to use headings to structuring a page into sections and provide the user with an idea of what content will follow.

They are even more important for blind and vision impaired users as they allow content to be easily navigated – this means using heading levels rather than styling text with large or bold fonts. Headings are also good for search engine ranking.

  • Organise your content into sections.
  • Ensure that each section of content is identified by a heading.
  • Ensure that each heading describes and identifies its section of content.
  • Keep headings short and succinct.
  • Ensure headings are properly nested within each section of the document. For example, a Heading 2 must follow a Heading 1; a Heading 3 must following a Heading 2 and so on within each section.
  • Mark headings using HTML heading elements <h1><h6>. Increasing text size or using styles (e.g. emphasis or strong emphasis) is not the same as using heading elements.
  • Avoid use of abbreviations and jargon in headings.