How to create or edit a heading (technical)
Advisory
The information on this page is only applicable if you're editing the University webpages using T4. It presumes that you have already completed the beginners and advanced level of the T4 training (a link for staff only - opens in new window).
Page contents
A note for screen reader users
Several sections on this page refer to T4's text formatting drop-down menu. If you're using a screen reader to navigate T4, this is the menu called 'Blocks' that is found in the text editing windows.
The T4 text-editing window
How to create a heading
Select the appropriate level (see heading structure if you need guidance on this) in the drop-down text formatting menu on the right side of the editing ribbon, as shown in the following image:
The options available in this drop-down menu are:
- Paragraph
- h1 (Header 1)
- h2 (Header 2)
- h3 (Header 3)
- h4 (Header 4)
- h5 (Header 5)
- h6 (Header 6)
The menu has a default setting of 'Paragraph', which is the standard non-heading text option.
You should never choose 'Header 1' from this drop-down menu, because:
- there must only be one h1 heading on a page
and - for the page code to work properly with assistive technologies, that particular heading must only be created using the procedure for adding an h1 heading (a separate topic).
So for any heading within your page text, you should choose an option from h2-h6, as appropriate. When you've selected the correct level, you can then type your text.
Points to note
- You can't have text with different levels within the same line or paragraph.
- When you've added your heading and then press return/enter on your keyboard, the text formatting menu will default to 'Paragraph' for the next line. This is because Paragraph is the most common setting for text under a heading, but if you need to add a subheading at that point, you'll need to select the appropriate level for it from the text formatting menu.
How to change a heading level
You can change the level of an existing piece of text as follows:
- Click in the line of text that you want to change (you don't need to select the text, you only need your cursor to be in that line).
- Changing the option in the text-formatting drop-down menu.
Working with headings beyond h6
It's exceptionally rare to need a level beyond h6, as most pages don't go beyond h4. Nevertheless, this can happen in (for example) complex legal pages that must be presented in a certain way.
If you need a heading level beyond h6, this can be specially coded. In such cases, please contact the web team for advice. Please do not create an improvised heading using bold text.
Take care not to leave an empty heading tag on the page
When you add a heading to your page, the underlying code will add a 'tag' that looks, for example, like this: <h2>My heading</h2>.
If you then decide to delete that heading (or in fact any line of text), you'll need to make sure that you've deleted not just the text but the entire line, otherwise the underlying code will leave an empty tag behind, e.g. <h2></h2>.
Empty heading tags fail what is required of us for legal accessibility compliance, because they can confuse assistive technologies.
How to spot an empty tag
An empty paragraph or heading tag will manifest as extra vertical white space on your page between items of content (text, images, videos etc.)
If you're not sure whether white space on your page is due to an empty tag, try clicking in that space in the editing window, so that your cursor is positioned there.
- If your cursor won't appear in that space then it's not a blank line, but part of the page design and this is fine.
- If you can leave your cursor in that blank line then there's an empty tag there, and you should delete the line.
How to remove an empty tag
Main method
Delete the line using backspace, until your cursor goes up to the end of the previous line or item of content.
Optional method, if you're familiar with editing web code
You can view the code to check, and then remove any rogue heading tags if you need to. The source code of the section you're editing can be found by selecting 'View' and then 'Source Code' from the editing window. Click 'cancel' to come out of source code view, or 'Save' to keep your changes.
If your page looks wrong in the main editing window after you've come out of source code view, the undo button there will remove your changes – but you'll need to do this before saving your page.
Please note that there is no expectation for T4 editors to edit source code to remove empty tags, but we appreciate that some editors will be proficient in this method and may prefer it.
How to prevent an empty tag
- Don't add space to your page by pressing enter/return to create new blank lines, and especially don't do this with a heading level selected. If you need advice or help with spacing and layout, please contact the web team.
- When you delete a whole line of text, whether it's paragraph or heading text, ensure that you delete enough for the cursor to go up to the end of the previous line or item of content. This will ensure that an empty tag isn't left behind.
- Take particular care if you delete content at the end of your page. It can be harder to spot an extra blank line there, because there's no further content to make an obvious gap.
Heading formatting is for headings only
Heading formatting options must only be used for headings, bearing in mind that a heading is a piece of text that labels a topic or subtopic.
Heading options must not be used to emphasise text or to make it bigger. Once you format a piece of text as a heading, you are altering the underlying code to indicate that this text is, structurally, a heading. This means that the code of your page will tell assistive technologies and search engines that the text is introducing a topic or subtopic.
If you need advice on emphasis, see how to correctly emphasise text.
Tables
It's fine to use a heading to introduce a table, but do not format any of the table contents as a heading. Tables have their own automatic styling and, when properly constructed, their contents will automatically format appropriately.
Links
Don't make a heading into a link in whole or in part, and (to look at the same issue from another point of view), don't format a link as a heading just to make it stand out.
If you need to clarify any of the text in your heading – perhaps, for example, it contains a term that is explained elsewhere – you'll need to create a link to that explanation in the paragraph text beneath the heading, not in the heading itself.
