Comments on: 7 Common Mistakes When Using the HTML Heading Element

By: Mike Mella

Mike Mella — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:18:54 +0000

Incidentally, to think of the site heading as “just a logo” is a problem in itself. It’s not a logo; it’s the site’s brand. A brand has as much value as any article heading or, I would argue, more.

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By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:47:49 +0000

@Tim – That’s what divs are for but that doesn’t mean that they have semantic meaning.

@Jennifer – I agree that on the homepage then it does actually make sense to use the site title as the h1 but a different h1 should be used throughout the site to differentiate clearly between content.

It is more down to personal preference but I don’t see the need to repeat the same h1 as the title element across the whole site?

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:58:14 +0000

I also agree on the point of #2 – not using h1 for the logo EVER. It shouldn’t be referred to as “a mistake”. Sometimes, it’s okay.

To me, one of the most important things on the page is that you are Dave Woods, Freelance Web Designer. It distinguishes you from being Neatly Sliced, front end developer.

But if you don’t want your content structured that way, hey, don’t do it. I want mine like that. So it’s not right or wrong, it’s how you want your content structured.

By: Tim Wright

Tim Wright — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:38:34 +0000

@dave – divs do actually have semantic meaning. They’re used to divide major sections of a page up.

I think you might be right about spans though

By: Azad

Azad — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:15:35 +0000

Usage of proper headings is a matter of common sense. Use h1 for the heading that describes the page the most. H2 for sections in the page of high importance.

E.g. Use h2 for blog post titles in the front page but use h1 for the same title in the item-page. That’s something most bloggers don’t do but should.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:05:15 +0000

Danny, that’s exactly what I’d do. The only thing I’d change is if I was using an img for the logo/site name then there probably wouldn’t be any need for the span to wrap it.

By: Danny Murphy

Danny Murphy — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:51:50 +0000

There has been a long running h1 debate over at http://h1debate.com/ it is currently about 70% for main heading and 30% for Logo/site name.

I have now followed the same route as digg where on the homepage the logo/site name is a H1 and then on every other page the logo/site name is wrapped in a span and the main heading/blog post title becomes the H1

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:57:30 +0000

Hi Robin, Personally I’d just use an image… that’s what it is after all and will display the same to everyone even if CSS is disabled.