Biology Courses | Biology | The Open University

How to Apply | Undergraduate Online Courses | The Open University

Maths Courses | Mathematics | The Open University

OU News | Open University

Undergraduate Modules | Online Courses | The Open University

History Courses | History | The Open University

English Courses | English | The Open University

Build a Career in Science | Study with The Open University

Design Courses | Design | The Open University

Every page should have a clearly defined heading, known as a "H1" (Heading 1).

A `H1` is the main heading of the page. It helps accessibility by allowing uses to
skip to the main content of the page. It helps all users identify what the page is about. 
It helps SEO by giving special emphasis to the topic of the page.

It is not enough to simply include large text. Headings must be coded 
[semantically](https://html.com/semantic-markup/) as `<h1>` tags, like so:

```html
<h1>This is a heading</h1>
```

Note that headings must contain some machine readable text to be considered valid. 
For example, this heading is not valid:

```html
<h1>
    <img src="company-logo.png">
</h1>
``` 

But with the addition of `alt` text, this heading is valid:

```html
<h1>
    <img src="company-logo.png" alt="About Company Inc.">
</h1>
``` 

Generally we recommend you just use plain text for your headings.
See [Technique H42](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H42) for more details.

missing-h1

March 2026

February 2026

The Open University

	Title / URL	Issues
	Biology Courses \| Biology \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/biology	1
	How to Apply \| Undergraduate Online Courses \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/apply	1
	Maths Courses \| Mathematics \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/maths	1
	OU News \| Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/blogs/news/page/3/	1
	Undergraduate Modules \| Online Courses \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/modules	1
	History Courses \| History \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/history	1
	OU News \| Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/blogs/news/	1
	English Courses \| English \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/english	1
	Build a Career in Science \| Study with The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/careers/science	1
	Design Courses \| Design \| The Open Universitywww.open.ac.uk/courses/design	1

Ensure every page contains a top-level heading

The Open University

Where this issue has occurred