Headings

ALLY Issues

• "The document does not have any headings"
• "The document's heading structure does not begin at one"
• "The document's heading structure does not start at the right level"
• "The document does not have an appropriate heading structure"
• "The document's heading structure goes beyond six levels"

You have probably seen headings before, even if you don't know it. Most documents online have their main content broken up into subtopics, with titles for each section. These are headings. Headings aid in overall understanding of a document by chunking content into more manageable pieces. They can also provide the skeleton of an outline or a table of contents, which allows the audience to skim content for the information they are looking for. When it comes to accessibility, headings allow users to review a document's structure as a whole, and more easily navigate from section to section.

Screen Reader Experience

When in a file like a Microsoft Word document, all navigation is done via keyboard. The user can bring up a list of headings for the document, and view headings by number, or all at once. Using this feature, the user can "skim" through the contents of the document, and quickly jump to a section to be read more in depth.

In a document with no headings, the screen reader will not call out section titles. In addition, the user will not be able to bring up the headings list. They will need to go through the document much more slowly, and will not be able to jump to different sections as easily.

Heading Level Structure

Most text-editing software has a way to assign headings to text in a document. Headings generally range from Heading Level 1 to Heading Level 6, with level 1 being the broadest, and level 6 being the most specific. Headings are used as follows:

• Heading Level 1: Usually the document title. Rarely used more than once in a document. 
  • Exception: A book/collection of articles, in which each article has its own title.
• Heading Level 2: Main subsections of the document.
• Heading Level 3: Further divide information as a subsection within Heading Level 2.
• Heading Level 4: Further divide information as a subsection within Heading Level 3.
• ...etc. through Heading Level 6.

It is not recommended to create a heading structure that goes deeper than level 6. Anything beyond this level can create confusion and is cumbersome to navigate. 

When done correctly, headings serve as an accurate outline for the document, and in some text editing programs, serve as the table of contents for the document.

Caption: Headings list from the navigation sidebar in Microsoft Word.

Caption: Automatic table of contents in Microsoft Word, generated from the headings list.

For information on how to create headings in different programs, head to our "Tutorials and Guides" page.