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Should navigation links be styled as H tags?

Yes
No
Don't think it matters
I don't know
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Author Topic: Heading level tags for nav links?  (Read 5939 times)

anallawalla

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Heading level tags for nav links?
« on: August 17, 2011, 03:28:48 AM »
I am amazed at how many designers style navigation menus with heading tags - some even using multiple H1s. What do you think? Please vote and then discuss.
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buckworks

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2011, 03:38:31 AM »
Semantically, I think it's more accurate to style nav links as a list.

I prefer to save my H tags for the real headlines and subheads on the page.
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Rumbas

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2011, 08:37:01 AM »
>I prefer to save my H tags for the real headlines and subheads on the page.

Ditto.
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Gurtie

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2011, 08:45:34 AM »
haven't seen that. Mainly I get developers who stick an H1 behind the logo and then argue with me when I suggest that might not be quite right.
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ukgimp

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2011, 10:30:33 AM »
Drives me mad when I see headings for menus in H1, all the same on every page
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Rooftop

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2011, 10:48:30 AM »
But surely,  that's what you need to do to rank a site.  Isn't that all SEOs do? Add some inappropriate H tags and stuff the meta with keywords?
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jetboy

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2011, 12:29:08 PM »
Unordered lists, with definition list to express categories. E.g.

Code: [Select]
<dl>
    <dt>Main navigation</dt>
    <dd>
        <ul>
            <li>Link 1</li>
            <li>Link 2</li>
            <li>Link 3</li>
        </ul>
    </dd>
    <dt>Featured links</dt>
    <dd>
        <ul>
            <li>Link 1</li>
            <li>Link 2</li>
            <li>Link 3</li>
        </ul>
    </dd>
</dl>

You *could* dispense with the <ul>s and just have multiple <dd>s, but in practice I find the extra elements tend to come in handy for CSS styling.
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I, Brian

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2011, 01:37:37 PM »
Quote from: anallawalla on August 17, 2011, 03:28:48 AM
I am amazed at how many designers style navigation menus with heading tags

IMO SEO is more interested with usability than developers/designers, which sounds completely odd.

You'd think developers/designers would get HTML basics such as "each page having its own unique page title" and using h tags for a document structure.

Never let a developer loose on one of your sites without clear restrictions. I keep making the same mistake of presuming experienced people know what they are doing - or should be doing. :)
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Rooftop

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Re: Heading level tags for nav links?
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2011, 02:44:02 PM »
You're using the wrong developers!

Mine start by having the principals of both onsite seo and usability drummed in to them.  The results are not perfect, but if a structure and the core templates of a site have got it even 75% right at the outset it is a bloody lot less work in the long run.
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