Logical Hierarchy

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Sequencing Heading Styles

One of the concepts that apply to heading styles is that of a logical hierarchy.

Logical Hierarchy means we that have an organized system for assigning headings, based on the numerical value indicated in the heading name.

The main principle of the concept is to start at Heading 1 and to not skip any levels as you go through the document.

Following is a sample document with heading styles applied, mostly in the correct order. However, there are also some skipped headings and blank headings where a style was applied to an empty line.

 

Verifying Style

To see the style applied to any text in your document, you can use your arrow keys to navigate through the page and review each heading style within the "Styles" pane of the Home Tab.

"Normal" is the default style for all content until you specify otherwise.

A quick way to evaluate the heading structure of an entire document is to use the Navigation Pane from the View Tab (CTRL + F).

Select the "Headings" Option from the Navigation Pane to see your heading structure presented as an outline.

When you find a heading level has been skipped (or applied to a blank line) make the correction to your text using your Styles palette (and the DELETE key when appropriate).

Use the following sample document to use the Navigation Pane and find any skipped heading levels or blank headings.