Managing Headings in Print and Online Documents

Headings are employed in most print documents, in PowerPoint presentations, and on many web pages. A key role of headings is to indicate the logical subordination of the sections of content that make up the print or online document. Although the basic principles of showing subordination with headings are familiar to all, there are some useful techniques that are rarely acknowledged and others that handbooks regularly condemn. These techniques include ways to flatten the document’s hierarchical structure and ways to handle introductions and conclusions. PowerPoint presentations pose special problems because this medium calls for relatively flat hierarchies. Websites allow for considerable depth, but designers must recognize that depth arises from both headings on web pages and hyperlinks to the next level down in the hierarchy. Finally, headings and subordination are significant issues in multipurpose publishing—for example, when a print document will be converted to a PowerPoint presentation or moved to a website or when content stored in a database will become both a print manual and an online help system. Of special importance in this regard is the distinction between populated and unpopulated locations in the document’s hierarchy.