What are headings?
Headings are usually styled differently from body text to stand out visually. Assistive technology doesn’t recognise headings by the styling, but by the heading tag attached to the text inside the html. This is created when you format the text as a heading in the Rich Content Editor, or other text editor.
Learners who use assistive technology use headings to quickly scan and move to the relevant part of a page, much like sighted learners.
Clear heading structure is essential for many learners, not just people who use screen readers. When heading levels are skipped (for example jumping from an H2 to an H4), the page’s structure becomes unpredictable, which can make the content significantly harder to navigate and understand.
Heading structure supports:
Learners who are blind or use screen readers
Screen reader users rely on headings to navigate a page quickly. Headings act like a table of contents: they tell the user how the information is organized and allow them to jump directly to sections.
When heading levels are skipped, the screen reader announces an unexpected hierarchy, for example: “H2→ H4” with no H3 in between.
To the learner, this feels like a missing section or a structural error. It makes the page harder to interpret, forces extra mental effort, and can lead to misunderstandings about how information relates.
Learners with low vision
These learners often use screen magnification tools. With magnification, only a small portion of the screen is visible at once, so heading structure is essential for keeping track of where they are on a page.
Skipped headings disrupt this structure and make it harder to form a mental map of the content.
Learners with cognitive or processing disabilities
Consistent headings help learners organize information, understand relationships between topics, and anticipate how content flows.
When heading levels jump unexpectedly, the organization becomes less predictable. This can increase cognitive load and make the page feel fragmented or confusing.
Learners who rely on keyboard navigation
Some students navigate using only the keyboard (e.g., due to motor disabilities). They depend on heading shortcuts to move through a page efficiently. Invalid heading structure means these shortcuts lead to an incoherent or misleading navigation experience.
All learners scanning or revisiting content
Headings benefit everyone by making content easier to skim and review.
When heading levels are skipped, even sighted users may feel that the content is “out of order” or hard to follow, especially in long or complex pages.
What are screen readers?
Screen readers are assistive technologies used by people who are blind, have low vision, or have difficulty visually processing text. They read out loud what is on the screen, along with semantic information, like headings, links, buttons, tables, menus, text, and alt text for images.
When a screen reader reaches an image, it announces the alt text.
If no alt text has been provided, the screen reader may skip the image or announce a meaningless filename, leaving the learner unsure of what they missed.
Correct heading order
Headings come in levels from Heading 1 (h1) through Heading 6 (h6), and the order in which you use them creates the structure of your page. You can think of this structure like a tree. The page title is the trunk: that’s your one and only Heading 1. From that trunk grow major branches (Heading 2), and from those branches grow smaller branches (Heading 3), and so on.
Sequential headings ensure that this “tree” grows in a predictable, logical way. After an H1, the next level should be an H2. From an H2, you can either add another H2 (a sibling branch) or move one step deeper to an H3 (a sub-branch). But you shouldn’t suddenly jump to an H4 or H5, because that skips levels in the hierarchy and breaks the structure.
Using headings in the right order helps screen reader users understand how sections relate to each other and navigate the page with confidence. If a page skips a heading level, navigation becomes confusing. Instead of forming a clear mental map of the page, the learner encounters what feels like missing steps in a staircase, making it hard to know how sections relate to each other.
Why can’t I use a heading 1 in my Canvas content?
Every web page should only have one Heading 1. In Canvas, your Pages, Assignments, Discussions, and other content are all displayed inside a larger Canvas page. That outer page already includes a Heading 1: the title of the resource.
Because the page title is already the H1, any additional Heading 1 inside your own content would create two top-level headings on the same page, which can confuse screen reader users and disrupt the page structure. This is why your content should start with a Heading 2 instead.
Recommended heading length
Headings serve as signposts. Learners rely on them to understand what a section is about before they decide whether to read it. When a heading is very long, especially when it runs like a full sentence or even multiple sentences, it becomes harder to:
- Scan visually. Long headings blend into the surrounding text, making it difficult for sighted learners to differentiate the heading from the paragraph that follows.
- Navigate with a screen reader. Many screen reader users jump through a page by bringing up a list of headings. In that list, each heading is read aloud. Long headings take significantly more time to listen to, making it harder to quickly move through content or find the right section.
What does a good heading look like?
A good heading captures the main idea of the section in a few words. It should tell the learner what they will find below it, not explain everything in detail.
If a heading starts to feel like a full paragraph, it’s usually a sign that the content should move into the body text instead.
How screen reader users navigate with headings
For many learners who are blind or have low vision, a screen reader is their primary way of exploring digital content. But unlike sighted users screen reader users experience a page one element at a time, in linear order.
Headings are one of the few tools that allow them to break out of that linear flow and navigate more efficiently.
Headings work like landmarks
A screen reader can announce a list of all the headings on a page, almost like a table of contents. This gives the learner a quick overview of the structure:
- What topics will be covered?
- How is the information grouped?
- Where should they jump first?
Without proper headings, the learner must move line by line until they reach what they need, slowing them down and frustrating them.
Headings allow quick navigation
Screen readers provide keyboard shortcuts to jump between headings. For example:
- Pressing a key might move to the next heading.
- Another shortcut moves to the previous heading.
- Some screen readers let learners filter by heading level (e.g., jump between H2 sections only).
This is equivalent to visually scanning a page for large, bold section titles.
