This is a great article by David Hamill from Good Usability about the effective use of sub-headings in your website copy.

It’s well written and makes some very good points. David also uses well-constructed sub-headings within the article to cleverly illustrate his point.

Original article: http://www.goodusability.co.uk/2008/10/sub-headers-are-navigation/

Using good sub-headers will help your users find the information they are looking for. It’s like navigation but without the clicking and the cool roll-over effects.

Summary

• Sub-headers help users decide whether to stay
• A good sub-header describes the text below it
• Sub-headers help screen readers
• Try writing your sub-headers first
• Improve further with bold text

Original article: http://www.goodusability.co.uk/2008/10/sub-headers-are-navigation/