Headings and Subheadings

The heading and subheading formats can be found in the "Formats" drop-down in the Formatting Tool Bar. 

Headings and subheadings organize content to guide readers. A heading or subheading appears at the beginning of a page or section and briefly describes the content that follows. Do not type all uppercase headings such as: "THIS IS A HEADING". Read more about this and other guidelines.

Creating a Page Title #

The Page Title or Page Name gives the reader a taste of what they’re about to read for the entirety of the page. The Page Name is the name of the page in Umbraco (or the "Page Title" in the SEO & Navigation tab) and will always be automatically placed on the page. Do not retype it into the editor. This will cause it to display twice, which is not only confusing to the general user, but can be extra confusing for those using assistive technology.

Adding Headings and Subheadings To Your Content #

Section headings and subheadings (Section Heading (h2), Section Subheading (h3), and Detailed Subheading (h4)) break content into smaller, more specific sections. They give readers avenues into your content and make it more scannable by people, assistive technology, and search engines so that the content on each page remains compliant with government appointed accessibility standards.

Section headings and subheadings should be organized in a hierarchy, with Section Heading (h2) first, followed by subheadings in order (Section Subheading (h3) will nestle under Section Heading (h2), Detailed Subheading (h4) under Section Subheading (h3), etc.). In Umbraco these headings have labels to their right so you can make sure headings are organized correctly. You can see examples of this in the Content Editing Indicators page.

Heading and Subheading Guidelines #

• Name your pages with keywords in mind. Think of how your page's name will appear in search results.
• Include the most relevant keywords in your section headings and subheadings, and make sure you cover the main point of the content.
• Be generous and descriptive.
• Ensure that headings and subheadings always follow a consecutive hierarchy (Section Heading (h2), Section Subheading (h3), Detailed Subheading (h4)).
• Do not type out the page title as a Heading. It is automatically put onto the page for you, and by manually typing it into the editor, it will appear twice on your page.
• Do not abbreviate words in page names.
• Do not skip a header level for styling reasons. A heading or subheading format should never be used to style any other type of content.
• Do not bold or italicize a heading.
• Do not try to be clever or play on words. Some readers, such as non-native speakers of English, may not understand the pun intended.
• Do not use all caps. Doing so may cause some screen readers and assistive technology to read out each individual letter of your words, instead of the full words themselves. Certain parts of your website may show text in all caps, but that is done automatically for you. You do not need to do it yourself.

See Example Headings and Subheadings