CP 3.2 – Specify headings

Why is this important?

Users rely on headings to interpret the structure of a page.

Without headings, screen reader users cannot easily determine the main sections of a page and will be forced to read the entire document in a linear manner.

Use the ‘styles’ functionality in Word to specify the various levels of headings in your content – this will communicate their nature both visually, and programmatically to screen reader users.

Techniques

Use the styles panel to specify the correct headings in your content

The currently applied heading style is indicated at the top and highlighted in the list; clicking on a different style will change the heading style of the selected text.

Check your heading structure at a glance

Use the document map in the “Navigation Pane” (“View” menu; tick “Navigation Page”) to see the structure of the headings in your document."

Word’s navigation pane, showing the heading structure

The Word application with the navigation pane open, showing a heirarchical list of every heading and highlighting the currently selected heading.

Example of good practice

The screenshot below shows the layout of this page with headings specified. You can easily identify the different sections and sub-sections of the page at a glance.

The content on this page with headers specified.

Example of bad practice

The screenshot below shows the layout of this page without any headings specified. It is difficult to identify the different sections and sub-sections of the page.

The content on this page without headers specified.

Videos

References

WCAG 2.1

    • 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A)

EN 301 549 v 2.1.2

    • 9.1.3.1 Info and Relationships

Further reading