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Speaker 1: Welcome, Content Lab brings you the next in our series about accessible content practices.
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In this video, we'll learn why using headings in the correct order is important for helping all users access your content.
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Headings help all people scan a web page and understand its structure.
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Visitors to your page will scan headings to find information, whether they're using screen readers or not.
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In a 2024 survey of 1,500 screen reader users, 71% said they use headings to find information, and 89% of users find heading levels useful.
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This is why it's important to use heading levels in the correct order and not skip levels.
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The levels inform the user of the page structure.
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The Mass.gov CMS is built to support proper heading hierarchy.
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The page title is the only heading one, or H1, on the page; section headings are automatically heading 2 or H2.
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If you're adding subheadings to break up long sections inside a rich text field, start with heading 3 or H3.
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Avoid using bold text to indicate a new subsection of text under a heading 3, and use a heading 4 instead.
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Screen readers don't recognize bolded text, so if you use bold in place of a heading, some of your page's visitors might miss it.
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Heading should be short, understandable, and descriptive.
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Headings that are too long become difficult to scan quickly.
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Focus on using words that are meaningful for the content.
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The person hearing it should know exactly what they will find in that section.
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Register as an intermediary or operator's agent.
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Registering and filing returns as a real estate agent.
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Registering as an intermediary or operator's agent if you have multiple clients who are operators.
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Headings that are too short, like overview, aren't informative about the content that follows.
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Make sure your headings give context to the content that follows.
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For example, on the starting a Business page, the headings are both clear and concise.
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The general Guidance for Starting a Business section has exactly that information.
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The CMS has a built-in tool called Editoria11y that will notify you of any out-of-order headings on your page and other accessibility issues.
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Remember, headings are used by all visitors to your page.
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Using proper heading hierarchy and headings that give context without being too long will improve your page for everyone.
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For more accessibility help and resources, visit the Access Team website.
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