David Barnes @ Packt

When I write technical content, I aim for roughly one heading every 3 paragraphs of text. I use different levels of heading (H1, H2, H3) if the document is more than a few pages. And I use several different types of heading too.

Headings make it easier for people to jump around in your writing. If it's easier to jump around, it's more likely people will read. Especially blog posts. When I find a new post I don't read it from the top straight away. I scroll through to see its main points. If they look interesting I will explore in more detail.

The main way an author can hold my attention -- and most people's -- is with headings and images.

Here are the main heading types you can use in your writing, and how much I personally like each one.

Statement / Support -- summarize your point
This is where the heading acts as a headline, summarizing the point that follows. Daily Mail front pages follow this pattern... the headline summarizes the story, the rest of the article provides the details and supporting evidence.

Examples: Joomla is great for ecommerce!, Moodle: the perfect tool for cutting edge teachers.

Dave's rating: ****

Command / Instruction -- tell the reader what to do
The heading tells the reader to do something, the content tells them how or why.

Examples: Create a new blog post, Install WordPress, Process your orders.

Dave's rating: ****

(A variation on this is "promise/fulfillment". For example: Never gain weight again, Find a perfect partner for life. After headings like that, you expect the text to tell you how.)

Process / Instruction -- tell them what they will learn to do
This is similar to Command / Instruction, all you do is change the first word so that it ends in -ing.

Examples: Creating a new blog post, Installing WordPress, Processing your orders, Finding a perfect partner for life, Never gaining weight again.

Somehow, changing that word makes the heading a little less punchy, a little more polite. It cools down the statement, makes it less agressive. It also makes it feel less exciting or urgent. It sounds like a process to learn about, rather than an action to perform.

Dave's rating: *** (I prefer punchy)

Object / Description -- name the topic you're going to tell them about
At their worst, the heading is a piece of jargon or a technical term, and the description is a definition of that term. This is a recipe for immediate snoozing or confusion from the reader.

This is one of the most commonly used heading patterns -- it should be the rarest.

Examples: The Do Loop, Home page, Walls, printLn(), heading types

This heading style works well for reference material. Any document that uses this style too much will end up looking like a reference.

Dave's rating: *

(The first draft of this blog post used this style of heading -- and I was about to post it before I realized the enormity of my sin. These headings are a constant temptation for writers. Before sending off a chapter or publishing a blog post, see if you can replace them with a more compelling style.

In my case, I added a "statement" heading to the end of the Object/Description heading -- and now the article is much better.)

Question / Answer -- pose a question with your headings
The heading asks a question, the content answers it. Works well if the genuinely cares about the question and wants to know the answer. Ideally, it should be a question that the reader is already asking themselves. (And I mean really asking themselves, as in... "Wow! How do I do that?" not as in, "Yeah, but so what?")

Examples: So, how can I do that in my own programs?

I would only use this for "deep" headings -- level 3 and below.

Dave's rating: **

Container / Content -- tell the reader what's coming up
The way the heading is written makes it clear what sort of content comes next.

Examples: 10 Top Tips for Getting More Followers on Twitter, Advantages of Moodle, How to Create Compelling Content, Pictured: Harry's Brand New Girlfriend, Warning!

These headings do not make sense on their own. Instead, they signal the sort of content to follow. Most headings containing the word "these" will fall into this category, including the title of this article.

Dave's rating: ***

You can combine these patterns together to form even better headings. For example: "Do you make these mistakes in English?" -- it asks a question, and it's also a container. The question doesn't strictly make sense until you've read the answer.

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