H1 header question

can you reduce the size and still benefit...?

[Harley_m]

Hi,

<h1 align="center">Welcome to Site X</h1>

is an H1 header tag, which is given more bias in SE's than normal text right...?

well does :

<h1 align="center"><font size="-7">Welcome to Site X</font></h1>

have the same effect, just look smaller, as this would be amazing if it would/could? or do Se's know that its been reduced in size...?

Thanks

harley

[Macguru]

Most people use CSS to bring <hx> tags to a reasonable size.

[ukgimp]

That would work HM

But why not try the wonders of CSS :) to do all of this and more.

Be careful not to assume that you can make the whole page H1

Cheers

<added>
Hurl this in your header

<style>
h1 {
font-size:"-7";
}
</style>

and then all H1 will be -7. But use external CSS for the best results.

</added>

[Harley_m]

oh the secret comes out then :) i never knew that, and only now just realised...

CSS is the best way of doing it i agree, and i will use it...

thats one hell of a trick considering the weight of H1

Could you have a paragraph in H1? that should be fine right? and is H2 given more weight then noraml text, so could you have 1 para H1, then one para H2...?

Thanks guys

Harley

[Macguru]

Try to use <hx> with a proper balance in your pages.

More here :

[webmasterworld.com...]

[Nick_W]

Harley - Dont jump, don't jump!

Abuse of tags will get you booted (maybe) but. more importantly, makes your pages make no semantic sense whatsoever.

CSS isn't a trick ;) It's the way it's supposed to be done. The <font> tag was the biggest mistake netscape/ms ever made in the early days...

font-size:"-7";

Does that actually work? -7 what?

font-sixe: 1em;
or
font-size: 16px

would be better surely?

Nick

[DaveN]

That would kind of dilute the importance of the h1 tag.

Try to remember when using header tags for seo Density, Proximity and whatever you do don't take the p*** it will be seen.

DaveN

[Harley_m]

no, im not out to be dishonest...i was trying to get an idea of the heirachy of it all, thats all...

ive read up alot more on it now and im pretty set...thanks alot guys, once again alot of good points raised...

but surely it not "the way its meant to be done" by using css, or any method to decrease the size of something that is designed to be big and bold, to get the benefit without the cost of huge text...whether or not you 'might' get caught it wasnt designed to take advantage of the weight SE's put on huge text...

[Nick_W]

but surely it not "the way its meant to be done" by using css, or any method to decrease the size of something that is designed to be big and bold

...er yes it is.

Who decided h1's were big and bold? Browser makers An h1 has meaning outside of presentation. That's what it's all about.

Your page should make sense as an HTML document not as a web page for IE/Netscape.

It's up to the desinger to decide how he styles his documents for web browsers, text readers, hand-held devices, print media etc...

Don't mistake 'big and bold' for meaning

This is not 'my opinion' it's fact. ;)

Nice related discussion here: [webmasterworld.com ]

Nick

[Harley_m]

Nick, i see what you mean, but by making the title of the page small and inconspicuous your not really creating a title at all - your just saying to the engines you are cos its good for your ratings...

it not really any better than having one keyword rich sentence backround colour - both ways your basically saying, look engines, this is what this page is all about, if if it doesnt look it to you...

[Nick_W]

No, you're wrong. Who said that adding style makes it inconwotsit?

If you have an h1 at the top of your page with a nice border, background and a 1.4em size, who's to say that's cheating?

It's up to you how you use your titles / h1's. They, like any other html element can be abused. My advice is not to do this, but I'd not say don't make your h1's more attractive and fit nicely into your design...

Nick