Writing headings and links

Best Practice Examples:

Best Practice Solution:

Write a descriptive title/heading for your article and use this as link text to the article.

This best practice is closely related to the best practice on writing articles for the web. In this best practice we focus on writing effective headings, sub headings and link text to the article. Headings

• Write descriptive headings; a heading should give a first glance at the content of the article.
• Use descriptive sub-headings within the article. Sub-headings guide readers through the text and reveal a bit more detail on the content.
• Do not use too many sub-headings; as with all emphasizing elements, over-use reduces their positive effect. A sub-heading every 200 to 300 words is most effective.
• Write unique headings; users look at the headings to identify the content they are looking for. The headings must reflect the difference between the articles.
• The heading above the article must be identical to the link text used to refer to the article.

Links

• Use the article heading as link text to refer to the article.
• Don’t use “click here” and “more” links.
• Use link texts that tell users what they can expect if they click the link.
• Use consistent click affordances; use the same elements to show the user which elements are clickable, such as underline.
• If you provide a summary along with the link, make sure the summary reflects the content of the article.

When to use:

When writing headings for online articles and using them out of context to refer to the articles.

Why To use this Best Practice:

Headings lead users to the articles on a website. Writing good headings and using good links to these articles helps users to get to the content.

More info elsewhere:

• Writing for the web on www.useit.com
• Good headings help, bad headings hurt by Caroline Jarrett on www.usabilitynews.com
• Content & usability: writing for the web on www.webcredible.co.uk

• Categorized as Best Practices