Build an Accessible Table of Contents from Astro Headings

A table of contents helps when it reflects the actual decision path. Listing every minor heading creates more scanning work than it removes.

The implementation boundary

Use Astro’s rendered heading data, include meaningful h2 and selected h3 entries, preserve document order, and link to unique generated ids. Label the navigation for assistive technology.

For Build an Accessible Table of Contents from Astro Headings, the useful boundary is the smallest complete result that the repository can demonstrate. Supporting details stay in this guide when separating them would create a weaker URL, and claims stop where the saved output stops.

Reproducible example

Run the following command from the repository root with the supported Node runtime:

sed -n '1,220p' src/components/TableOfContents.astro

The evidence directory for astro-table-of-contents-blog stores this exact command and its result beside the image. An editor can therefore rerun sed after a dependency, route, or hosting change and compare like with like.

What happened in this site

The current component receives headings from the rendered Markdown result and displays the navigation beside the article on wide screens. Mobile content remains linear and readable.

The astro-table-of-contents-blog case records what happened in AstroSEO.io rather than presenting one repository as a universal benchmark. Apply this templates check to your own URL model and compare the observed output before adopting the recommendation.

A reliable working sequence

1. Define what a successful Build an Accessible Table of Contents from Astro Headings result should contain.
2. Run sed -n '1,220p' src/components/TableOfContents.astro against the current production build.
3. Save only the output relevant to astro-table-of-contents-blog and redact private account data.
4. Compare the observed templates artifact with the intended inventory.
5. Make one focused correction, rebuild, and repeat this astro-table-of-contents-blog check.

Using the same astro-table-of-contents-blog measurement before and after a change separates diagnosis from guesswork and leaves a defensible rollback point.

Verification

Repeat the displayed command for Build an Accessible Table of Contents from Astro Headings, confirm its exit status, and compare the current output with the saved result. Open the generated route afterward and inspect its canonical URL, contextual links, evidence image, and narrow-screen layout. For this topic, a green build is not sufficient when the inspected artifact is wrong.

Continue with the next implementation guide and the related verification guide.

Limitations and recommendation

Show a table of contents for substantial articles, not by default for every page. Limit nesting depth and rewrite duplicate headings instead of appending arbitrary id suffixes without review.

For astro-table-of-contents-blog, automate the objective check shown above and keep the final usefulness decision with an editor. Static generation makes this templates output inspectable, but it cannot decide whether the explanation is distinct enough to deserve its URL.