Our focus here is technical documentation, which implies more modest, functional design. The following presents some of the standard guidelines on headings. For a more detailed discussion, see the chapter on headings in the online textbook. With online information, you want to use a lot of headings, perhaps one heading for every two to three paragraphs.
Design headings so that they clearly indicate their level.
Use type size, type style, color, bold, italics, alignment in such a way that the level of the heading is obvious. Make headings descriptive of the sections they introduce. Make headings parallel in phrasing. Parallelism sends readers important clues as to whether the section in similar in nature to the preceding ones. Avoid referring to headings with pronouns in the text following headings.