Heading

Heading audio micro-course (transcript)

Three short podcasts about “Heading”. Listen with the interactive player.

Podcast 1 — Introduction & meaning

Narrator: Heading is a noun, two syllables: HEAD-ing, IPA /ˈhedɪŋ/ — a title at the top of a page; also the direction something moves.

Narrator: In plain English, change the report heading; the plane altered its heading; a bold heading above the chapter.

Narrator: From head plus ing — scribes placed headings on manuscripts; pilots and sailors borrowed heading for compass direction by the nineteenth century.

Narrator: Web pages use H1 headings for SEO; newsletters repeat the heading in the subject line; dashboards show ship heading in degrees.

Narrator: British style guides debate heading capitalisation; aviation charts label runway heading clearly.

Narrator: Register spans publishing, tech, and navigation. Tone is structural when typographic, technical when directional.

Narrator: Title is broader; headline is journalistic; heading is the labelled section or compass bearing.

Narrator: Remember: a heading tells you what follows or where you are pointed.

Speaker A: The heading on slide two is wrong — it still says Q3 preview.

Speaker B: Good catch. Example: Tower cleared us onto heading two-seven-zero for departure.

Speaker A: Heading versus title?

Speaker B: Title names the whole work; heading labels a section inside it.

Speaker A: Synonyms?

Speaker B: Header in web dev. Caption is smaller. Heading covers docs and compass sense.

Speaker A: Mistake?

Speaker B: Using heading for body text styling — keep hierarchy H1 then H2.

Speaker A: Magnetic heading?

Speaker B: Pilots distinguish true and magnetic — charts spell it out.

Speaker A: Email heading?

Speaker B: Subject line acts as heading — keep it honest.

Speaker B: CMS and aviation prompts use heading for semantic HTML levels, TOC nodes, and telemetry fields — never vague title blob without level.

Speaker A: Docs CMS UI?

Speaker B: Right. Editorial UI:

Speaker B: Design a React knowledge base with indigo navigation bar and side panel tabs Articles, Heading Map, and Drafts. Enforce one H1 heading per page with live outline. Wireframe before CMS API.

Speaker A: Content schema?

Speaker B: Heading schema:

Speaker B: Draft PostgreSQL tables doc_sections with article_id, heading_level, and slug. Summarise schema before SQL — comment heading as hierarchical section title.

Speaker A: HR handbook?

Speaker B: Policy heading:

Speaker B: Build an HR policy editor requiring heading level two for each clause with auto-generated table of contents. Chart.js optional for reads. Navigation must label Policy Headings. Post JSON fixtures first.

Speaker A: Accounting report?

Speaker B: Report heading:

Speaker B: Create an accounting PDF template with fixed heading hierarchy for P and L sections and page anchors. Export sample heading-style rules.

Speaker A: Greenfield fleet map?

Speaker B: Vehicle heading:

Speaker B: Generate a fleet map overlay plotting vehicle heading in degrees with colour by speed. Outline heading-stream ingest before WebSocket hook.

Speaker A: Theme tokens?

Speaker B: Indigo docs:

Speaker B: Implement light and dark themes using CSS variables neutral surfaces and heading-indigo chips on duplicate H1 heading rows only. Export theme JSON documenting heading-indigo classes.

Speaker A: So heading enforces level and slug.

Speaker B: Right — one H1 per page.