In print and online, headline news captures casual readers and keeps them reading. It’s one of the most important elements in any article, and it is often the first thing people read. The right headline can make an otherwise dull story catch fire and get buzz, while the wrong headline can make your great story go nowhere. A great headline has more impact than even a great lede (introduction to the story).
Headlines should be short, and they must encapsulate the content of the article without giving too much away. They should also be snappy, preferably using active voice and dropping little helping words like articles (a, an, the). If you’re writing a head about something in the past, it should be written in present tense, and if you’re writing about a future event, it should use to (to meet, to decide, etc.).
The writers of stories, the reporters, seldom write their own headlines, because they’re usually pressed for space and the editor makes the call on size, head shorthand (usually three numbers) and whether or not a head should be capitalized. It’s best to know the hed sked, a publication’s schedule of headline sizes and type, and to practice counting head length on a count guide to understand how large or small a head should be. You can use InDesign’s text tool to do this, dragging a frame the column width of your head and then typing it.