Scannable Structure — Fix 2 of 5

Last Friday we fixed readable contrast — one surface, one text pair, ten minutes. If you did it, you already know how different your own work feels when you are not fighting gray type at the end of the day.

This week is Fix 2: scannable structure.

Last year's Neuroinclusive Design arc named Clear Structure as a core principle: predictable navigation, consistent patterns, reduced cognitive load. The five-minute accessibility check includes heading structure — one H1 per page, then H2, then H3, in logical order.

Structure is not about making things "pretty." It is about two things at once.

First: whether someone can skim your work in ten seconds and know what it is for — before they commit attention they do not have.

Second: whether the pattern is predictable — same heading logic page to page, section to section. That predictability is not a nice-to-have. Screen readers use your heading hierarchy to build a navigable outline of the page. Keyboard users and browser extensions depend on consistent landmarks. Third-party tools — search crawlers, AI agents, accessibility checkers — infer meaning from the same structure. When headings skip levels or bold text stands in for real titles, those tools cannot assemble a cohesive experience; the content may be there, but the map is broken.

Skimmability helps rushed human eyes. Predictable structure helps everyone else access the same map of what you built.

Context from the wider world: Magnifica Humanitas

In May, Pope Leo XIV issued Magnifica Humanitas — an encyclical on safeguarding human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence. I am not Catholic; I have family who are, and a more open spiritual outlook overall. Still, when a voice at that scale speaks to all people of goodwill, I pay attention — because the questions are not sectarian. They are about who gets included when the tools change.

Coverage from Jill Lepore, "What the Pope Said About A.I.," The New Yorker (May 27, 2026) and Nathan Gardels, "Pope Leo: AI Wealth Must Be Universally Shared," Noema (May 27, 2026) helped me sit with a document I would not have finished alone. What landed for this month's work is a three-word charge that maps cleanly onto accessible tech design:

Disarmed. Welcoming. Accessible.

Leo XIV writes that AI "must be disarmed, welcoming and accessible" — not rejected, but freed from monopolistic control and the race for dominance (Magnifica Humanitas, §110). Nathan Gardels, writing in Noema (May 27, 2026), notes the encyclical also calls for "transparency, accountability and accessibility" of AI systems. Accessible is already our June theme. Welcoming is what Fix 2 practices: pages and posts that do not make the reader do your editing work. Disarmed — we will return to that in the weeks ahead; it is the harder systemic piece.

Two lines from the encyclical keep echoing for me as I think about communication, not only algorithms:

"In practice, however, technology is never neutral, because it takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it."
— Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, §9

Leo also urges an "ecology of communication" — truth as a common good, not the property of those with power (Magnifica Humanitas, §137). Your heading hierarchy is a small, daily vote in that ecology. A wall of text is not neutral either; it signals who you expect to have time, energy, and patience.

Karen Hao, in Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI (Penguin Random House, 2025), argues that AI is a new face of colonialism — "the costs of this vision are pressing down on vast swaths of the global population who are vulnerable." The encyclical's social-justice frame in the digital realm names what many of us have felt in our guts about data extraction. I was glad to see it said plainly at that scale. Your fifteen-minute structure fix will not dismantle that — but welcoming communication is one way ordinary builders practice what Leo calls "responsible care for the human family" (Magnifica Humanitas, §106) without waiting for permission from a platform.

More on the encyclical, alt text, SEO, and AEO (Agent Engine Optimization) in Fix 3. The AI-industry critique thread continues in the June closeout.

~3 min read

• This week: Fix 2 — scannable structure. The 10-second skim test, predictable heading hierarchy (for screen readers and third-party tools), and wall-of-text recovery. Plus: Magnifica Humanitas — why "welcoming" communication is an accessibility practice.

• Do this today (15 minutes): Pick your messiest page, FAQ, long caption, or thread. Add three real headings (## in Markdown, H2/H3 in your site builder) or rewrite with line breaks — one idea per beat.

• Resource: Neuroinclusive Design — Clear Structure principle + heading check in the five-minute accessibility section.

• Platform note: Works in Notion, Google Docs, Squarespace sections, Carrd blocks, Substack posts, Bluesky long posts (use line breaks + numbered beats), carousel slides (one idea per slide).

• Next Friday, Jun 19: Fix 3 — images that communicate (alt text for accessibility, SEO, and AEO — plus the encyclical thread continues).

• 🔥 Fire Horse principle (Lead with Independence): Build structure you can maintain without a designer on retainer.

Part 1: The 10-Second Skim Test

Hand your phone to a friend — or pretend you are seeing your own page for the first time.

Within ten seconds, can they answer:

1. What is this page or post for?

2. What is the one action you want them to take?

3. Where would they look next if they only read headings?

If the answer is "I'm not sure," you do not have a content problem. You have a structure problem. And structure is fixable in one sitting without touching your brand colors (we did that last week).

Wall-of-text recovery is not shameful. It is normal. Most of us draft in flow state and publish in chaos. Fix 2 is the edit pass that respects how human brains actually read online: skim first, commit later.

Part 2: Fix 2 — Scannable Structure

The check: Can someone skim and know what this page or post is for in 10 seconds? And does the heading structure follow a predictable order (H1 → H2 → H3) so screen readers and assistive tools can navigate it?

Lens	Pick one surface this week	What to change
Small business	Services page, FAQ, checkout steps, about page	Real headings (not bold paragraphs pretending to be titles). Short paragraphs (3–4 lines max on mobile). Bullets for lists of options or steps.
Chronically online	Long caption, thread, newsletter section, link-in-bio	One idea per slide or paragraph block. Numbered beats for sequences. White space is not wasted space — it is navigation.

Heading hierarchy (simple rules)

• One main title per page or email (H1 or equivalent).

• Section titles for each major chunk (H2).

• Sub-points only when a section truly needs splitting (H3).

• Do not skip levels for styling (H1 → H3 with no H2 confuses screen readers and skimmers alike).

Your 15-minute action: Take the single messiest surface you have been avoiding. Add three headings that describe what each section does — not clever labels, descriptive ones ("What's included," "How to book," "Refund policy"). If it is a social post, break one wall into five short paragraphs or five carousel slides.

Do it on the platform you already use: WordPress, Squarespace, Notion public page, Mailchimp drag-and-drop, Google Docs → PDF — all support headings or visual section breaks. You do not need a new CMS for Fix 2.

Advanced (optional, not homework): Logical tab order on web forms matters for keyboard users. If you are not sure yours is sane, note it for a future pass — or book a Deep Dive if forms are where revenue lives. This week stays written and structural.

Part 3: Someone on the Other End — The FAQ Nobody Finishes

A potential client lands on your services page. The information is all there — pricing buried in paragraph four, deliverables in a bullet list with no heading, testimonials between two identical-looking blocks of gray text.

They wanted to hire you. They had ninety seconds between meetings. They left to "think about it" because thinking was easier than parsing.

You were not unclear on purpose. The page just asked them to do your editing work for you.

Reflection prompt: Which page on your site or bio would you be embarrassed to skim on a timer? Start there.

Structure & accessibility resources

You do not need every tool — pick what matches how you work. All free unless noted.

Resource	Best for
Neuroinclusive Design hub	Clear Structure principle + five-minute accessibility check (heading hierarchy is step two). Start here.
Accessible Tech Design series	June's five-fix arc — contrast, structure, alt text, and more.
WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool	Paste a URL for a quick page scan (heading structure is one of several checks).
The A11Y Project Checklist	Broader than headings; good when you want a sane "what else should I look at?" list.

Your tech struggles, reflected back.

This week's prompt:

What's the longest piece of content you published that you know is a wall of text — and what would the first three headings be if you fixed it today?

Hit reply. I read every one.

🔥 The Fire Horse's Callout: What to Charge Forward With

Lead with independence: systems you can maintain yourself beat templates you depend on someone else to update.

Three headings you add this week are yours — in your voice, on your timeline, in your platform. That is digital sovereignty at the structure layer.

🔥 Charge forward with: The one page or post you will run the 10-second skim test on before Friday.

WHAT'S NEXT

Next Friday, June 19: Fix 3 — Images that communicate. Alt text as a workflow — for screen readers, search engines, and the AI agents now crawling your site. Template, batch Sunday, platform quirks.

If you fixed contrast last week, you are already stacking fixes. Two down, three to go.

See you next week.

— Amanda

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• Forward this issue to someone whose FAQ or services page is one long paragraph

Sources & further reading

• Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence (May 15, 2026).

• Jill Lepore, "What the Pope Said About A.I.", The New Yorker (May 27, 2026).

• Nathan Gardels, "Pope Leo: AI Wealth Must Be Universally Shared", Noema (May 27, 2026).

• Karen Hao, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI (Penguin Random House, 2025).