Page titles and headings
Page titles help users know they are in the right place. Headings organise and structure the content on a page. Both help users to find the answers to their questions or complete an action.
Every page or screen in our tools and services must have a page title and this must also be set in the HTML of the page.
Writing page titles and headings
Page titles and headings should be:
- clear and concise
- front loaded and active - for example 'submit your manuscript', rather than 'your manuscript submission'
- unique - duplicate page titles are confusing to users, especially if they have multiple tabs open
- written in sentence case, not capital letters or title case
Try to avoid using questions for page titles and headings. In general, statements work better than questions.
Heading structure
Use headings to structure your content and make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for.
Headings are not only visual. They are also tagged in the code that makes up the page with a ‘heading level’. These levels range from Heading 1 (H1) to Heading 6 (H6).
You must structure content on the page using these heading levels. Many assistive technology users will explore and navigate the page using only the headings.
H1 is the main page heading and title, you must have only 1 of these.
H2 is a subheading, you can have several of these, breaking up the page into sections.
H3 is a subheading inside a H2 section, you can have several of these.
Sometimes you may need heading levels 4 to 6, but before using these ask yourself if the content could be better structured or if you need a new page.
To view our headings scale and learn how to use our headings tokens in your design, go to our guidelines on typography.