{"id":319,"date":"2025-06-02T14:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T18:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.web.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/?p=319"},"modified":"2026-06-22T14:12:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:12:52","slug":"using-headings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/using-headings\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Headings to Structure Content"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When creating web pages, PDFs, or Word documents, one simple but powerful tool can make a big difference in usability and accessibility:&nbsp;<strong>headings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-x-large-font-size\">What Are Headings?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Headings organize your content into clearly defined sections, giving users a quick overview of the page\u2019s structure and helping them find the information they need more efficiently. Think of headings as the \u201coutline\u201d of your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-x-large-font-size\">Why Are Headings Important?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Headings improve both&nbsp;<strong>comprehension<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>navigation<\/strong>&nbsp;for all users:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For&nbsp;<strong>sighted users<\/strong>, headings create visual structure and help people quickly scan for the information they need.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For&nbsp;<strong>screen reader users<\/strong>, headings function like a table of contents. They can pull up a list of all headings on the page and skip directly to the section they\u2019re interested in\u2014saving time and improving access.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When used correctly, headings make content more inclusive and user-friendly for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-x-large-font-size\">Using Headings the Right Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Headings should follow a logical structure using tags from&nbsp;<strong>Heading 1 (H1) through Heading 6 (H6)<\/strong>, where:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H1<\/strong>&nbsp;is the document title or web page title (used only once)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>H2<\/strong>&nbsp;introduces main topics<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>H3<\/strong>&nbsp;introduces subtopics under an H2, and so on<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s important to&nbsp;<strong>maintain this hierarchy<\/strong>\u2014don\u2019t skip heading levels just to make something look a certain way. Visual appearance can always be adjusted through styling without affecting the heading structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-large-font-size\">Example of Proper Heading Structure:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H1<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Page Title\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H2<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Main Topic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>H2<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Another Topic\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H3<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Subtopic of the above\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>H4<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Further subtopic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>H2<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013 Next Main Topic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This structure helps everyone\u2014especially screen reader users\u2014understand how your content is organized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-x-large-font-size\">Need Help?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ve pulled together a few helpful resources to guide you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/WAI\/tutorials\/page-structure\/headings\/\">W3C Guide on Headings<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/docs\/answer\/116338?hl=en&amp;co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop\">Headings in Google Docs<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.com\/support\/wordpress-editor\/blocks\/heading-block\/\">Headings in WordPress<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using headings properly is a small step that makes a&nbsp;<strong>big<\/strong>&nbsp;difference in accessibility. If you need help reviewing a document or webpage, feel free to reach out or stop by a drop-in session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks for helping make our content more inclusive!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When creating web pages, PDFs, or Word documents, one simple but powerful tool can make a big difference in usability and accessibility:&nbsp;headings. What Are Headings? Headings organize your content into clearly defined sections, giving users a quick overview of the page\u2019s structure and helping them find the information they need more efficiently. Think of headings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}