The Importance of the Hypertext Document Title

The title is the element that identifies globally the document's content. It is one of the most important contributors to a positive user experience for a Website's visitors. Ironically, the title is commonly overlooked, or not considered, possibly because browsers don't use the title within the document's body.

This article explains where the document title is used and how, by following just a few guidelines, you can create useful titles.

Where to Use the Title

The title is used in various places within the browser interface, so it's important that it's properly defined. Some of the areas in which the title is used include:

1. Bookmarks: Bookmarks allow the user to save the URL of an Internet resource. The user can visit the reference resource on future occasions by selecting the title, rather than needing to provide the URL to the browser.





2. Title Bar: Most graphical browsers display the hypertext document title in the upper area of the user interface.



3. Navigation Tabs: The user can access multiple resources through one browser instance. This type of interface design is known as Multiple Document Interface (MDI). The browser uses the title in the various navigation tabs to identify the different resources accessed in a given session.



4. Session History: Browsers provide at least two buttons that allow the user to move back and forward between the resources visited in a session. In addition to providing sequential access, these buttons display a list of titles that correspond to the resources visited. The user can select these to re-visit different resources.



5. Navigation History: Browsers store the URLs of resources and documents the user has visited. The title is used as to identify the URLs maintained in the navigation history.



6. Task Bar: The title is displayed in the operating system's task list to identify the different browser instances the user might be executing at a given time.

In addition to the different ways the browser interface uses the title, search engines perform the search operation by reading the title tag and looking for key words within the title and document body. In most cases, the search results are displayed using the title as a link to the hypertext document.

After reviewing how the title provides the user with a better browsing experience, you should have an understanding of how important it is always to carefully define the document title. The title should provide better usability in all contexts in which it is displayed.