Question and opinion about the headings practice

[flsfrithunanth]

Matthew, I am confused with the format of the headings you recommended, which I will outline below:

1. When avoiding title case and all caps in the headings, does this apply only to sentence headings?

2. Because I found it awkward to write headings shorter than one line, such as “Provider rights and obligations.”

And if I am allowed to aspire my thoughts here, my current practice is usually consisted of three headings level, with each having its use case:

• The first and second headings on documents tend to be shorter than one line; title case is always used.

• The first heading summarizes the entire section of the argument; the second heading is to split the contexts for easy digestion.

• Use third headings only for sentences that should be written in sentence case.

I am by no means a professional, but I want to improve my writing aesthetics. I have been learning a lot from your book and would like to hear your thoughts.

[mbutterick]

You should format your headings however you like. Though for section headings, I prefer either standard casing (if the heading is sentence-like) or all caps (if it’s not).

[justin.thomas]

I like to use standard case for my headings and use a Avenir or Monestrat but use the different weights of the fonts for different heading levels like in the screenshot which is with Monestrat.

The first level heading is in Avenir Black, the second level is in Avenir Medium and the third level if there was one would be in Avenir Book Bold. This to also allows you to differentiate different heading levels.

[flsfrithunanth]

That looks neat!

[justin.thomas]

Thank you. I read an online article that showed the value of using different weights in headings, and I liked it. Now I am diving into MB’s recommendation to read “Shaping Text” in his bibliography.