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ValidateHTML

Heading Level Skip

Headings should follow a logical hierarchy: h1 → h2 → h3. Skipping levels (like going from h1 directly to h3) creates a broken document outline. Screen readers use this hierarchy to let users navigate by sections.

Why It Matters

Users who navigate by headings (common with screen readers) expect a logical structure. Skipping from h1 to h4 makes them think they missed content. Search engines also use heading hierarchy to understand content importance.

Code Examples

❌ Invalid
<h1>Page Title</h1>
<h3>Subsection</h3>  <!-- Skipped h2 -->
<h5>Detail</h5>      <!-- Skipped h4 -->
✓ Valid
<h1>Page Title</h1>
<h2>Subsection</h2>
<h3>Detail</h3>

How to Fix

  • 1Use headings in order: h1 → h2 → h3 → h4 (never skip a level going down).
  • 2You can skip levels going up: h3 → h2 is fine when moving to a new section.
  • 3Use only one h1 per page. It should be the main page title.
  • 4Don't choose heading levels for styling. Use CSS to style h2 however you want.

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