In blog posts, visual presentation has just as much impact on the reader experience as the quality of the content itself. Heading design in particular is a key element that shapes the first impression of an article, drawing readers' interest and clarifying the structure of the information.
This article explains, step by step, the concrete benefits of decorating your heading design and how to apply these decorations to Shopify blog posts.
Benefits of Decorating Heading Design
1. Improved Visual Appeal
Decorating headings improves the overall look of a document or web page. Changing the color, font, or size makes it easier to catch the reader's attention and boosts their interest in the content.
2. Information Hierarchy
Decorated headings visually express the importance and relationships between pieces of information. This clarifies the structure of the document, allowing readers to understand the content more efficiently.
3. Improved Readability
Properly decorated headings make it easy to distinguish them from the body text. Readers can quickly find the information they're looking for, improving the overall readability of the document.
4. Enhanced Memorability
Headings decorated in a memorable way tend to stick in the reader's mind. This serves as a cue for recalling the key points of the content later, helping the information sink in.
5. Stronger Branding
Decorating headings with a consistent design effectively expresses your company's or brand's identity, which helps boost brand recognition.
6. Improved User Experience
Decorated headings allow readers to quickly grasp the content of a document. This improves the user experience and can, as a result, lead to longer browsing times.
How to Decorate Headings on a Shopify Blog
Here we'll walk through the process using the Dawn theme (Dawn 15.0.0), which many stores use. Since themes created by Shopify, such as Rise, Refresh, and Sense, have similar implementations, this method may work as-is for those themes too. Please use it as a reference.
Prepare the CSS Code
Searching Google for "heading design CSS" will bring up plenty of sample code. Look for a sample CSS code with a design you like.
Most sample code is based on h1, so adjust it as needed to match the heading level your store actually uses. (For example, if h2 is your main heading, rewrite the h1 selectors in the sample CSS code to h2.)
Insert the CSS Code into Custom CSS
CSS code can be configured from the Shopify theme customization screen, and if the CSS code is short, using custom CSS is the simplest approach.
Go to Online Store > Themes, then click "Customize" on the Shopify theme whose heading design you want to decorate.
From the select box at the top center of the Shopify theme customization screen, choose "Default blog post". From the templates on the left, select "Blog post", then insert the CSS code into Custom CSS. Click "Save" in the top right of the screen.
Other Notes
If There's No Custom CSS in the Blog Post Section
Using a shared custom CSS is another option. When using shared custom CSS, be careful not to affect heading tags outside of the blog post content.
If the Custom CSS Won't Save
Custom CSS is limited to 500 characters, and there are also some unsupported code patterns.
If the CSS code you want to insert is longer than 500 characters, or includes unsupported code, consider using custom Liquid instead.
When inserting into custom Liquid, wrap the CSS code in a style tag (<style>CSS code</style>).
Summary
Decorating your heading design brings much more value than a mere visual improvement. It draws readers' attention, helps structure information, and effectively expresses your brand's personality.
By using the custom CSS or custom Liquid features covered in this article, you can customize your heading design exactly as you envision it, even with limited technical knowledge. An appealing heading design increases reader engagement, which in turn boosts the overall value of your blog.
For more on customizing your blog, be sure to check out "Make the Most of Shopify's Blog Feature | Apps for Customizing Blog Posts" as well.
