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Digital Accessibility

Headings in the CMS

The CMS lets you set paragraph styles to create headings and define the structure of your page. Proper page structure makes a big difference for those using assistive technology and also makes your content easier to digest.

The Semantics of Headings

Headings are for indicating the structure of your content, not for making your text look big or bold. Screen readers allow users who are blind or low vision to navigate a page by heading levels. It is important that headings are marked up using the styles built into the CMS so that heading navigation works as expected.

If you simply need to make part of your content stand out, try using: 

  • Bold Text
  • Pull Quotes
  • Lists

Deciding which Heading Level to use

A screenshot of proper hierarchy in Omni CMS. The first heading is a Heading 3, with a Heading 4 nested within it. The Heading 4 has a Heading 5 nested within it.

The template you are working within to manage your CMS content generally has pre-assigned content areas for headings 1 and 2. For that reason, you'll start with heading 3 (or h3) as your main headings for your content, then add subheadings for each h3 in sequential order (h4, h5, h6) as needed. 

 Exception: On the home page, you will need to add a heading 2 as the first heading in your main content area. On other pages, the heading 2 precedes the introduction paragraph, but this is not the case on the home page.

Whether you're building content on the home page or not, be sure not to skip heading levels. For instance, do not skip directly from a heading 3 to a heading 5 without a heading 4 nested between them. You can, however, jump back to a heading 3 from a heading 5.

Catching Heading Issues

You can catch heading issues, including skipped heading levels or empty headings, by toggling on "Show Content Blocks" in the toolbar to show you each line's styling (paragraph, heading 3, etc).

Watch out for empty heading blocks: If any blocks show a heading style where the line is empty, you will need to delete the empty line. Avoid pressing "Enter" when your cursor is at the beginning of a heading content block because this action creates an empty heading. If you need extra white space between content blocks, use a soft return instead by pressing "Shift+Enter".

A screenshot of the content editor in the CMS. The show content blocks button is selected in the toolbar. An empty content block labelled with H4 is highlighted with a red box.
An empty heading shown in the the CMS page editor.


Snippets that use Specific Heading Levels

Some CMS snippets automatically present information using particular heading levels. You cannot change the heading levels in these snippets. Instead, you will need to make sure that your content still follows a logical heading order by adding headings before the snippet.

Highlight Boxes

Begin highlight boxes with a heading 3 to call attention to the information they are presenting.

Image Grids

These snippets automatically use a heading 3 as the heading level, unlike flexible grid snippets where you can choose the heading level.

Multipurpose Lists

These lists automatically use a heading 4 as the heading level. To preserve heading hierarchy, add a descriptive heading 3 before the multipurpose list to introduce it.

News Feed

The news feed snippet automatically uses a heading 4 for news story titles. Add a descriptive heading 3 before your news feed to maintain heading hierarchy.

Simple Lists

These snippets automatically use a heading 4 as the heading level. To preserve heading hierarchy, add a descriptive heading 3 before the simple list to introduce it.


Video Tutorial

Learn how to add headings and use proper hierarchy.


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