This has become an issue for me of late, and it needs more attention. And that is lack of sub-headings in articles. Not just the page heading and/or article heading, but headings throughout an article to make it more accessible and usable. Especially so the longer an article is. (And of course, use proper markup! H1, H2, etc.)
Examples, Poor
Among many, I came across the following articles which could really use more headings. The articles are fairly long, and could no doubt be broken up into sections.
- Accessibility: ‘Just The Right Thing To Do’
- Website accessibility is good for business
- Virginia Tech team tests vehicle for blind drivers
Why Headings?
Why are headings so important? First of all, it’s part of accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 2.0; see section 2.4.6 Headings and Labels. The W3C points out that headings create meaning when read out of context. And they help people with limited short-term memory. In addition, headings provide:
- Better navigation for screenreaders.
- Default formatting when CSS is not available.
- More semantic.
- Scanning more usable and readable document.
- SEO.
Examples, Good
Here are examples of articles with good use of headings:
- New Accessibility Guidelines A “Welcomed Update”
- Accessibility and Common Sense
- Constructing a POUR Website
- This web site (smiley)
Please use headings and sub-headings as it creates more web accessible and usable articles.