Action title checker: does every slide title make a claim?

The checker is a set of fixed rules that run in your browser. No AI model reads your titles, and nothing is uploaded. The rules find words and patterns, not meaning, so the score is a prompt to reread a title, not a grade. Rules as of October 2026.

The idea comes from consulting practice. Barbara Minto's The Pyramid Principle asks for a statement that carries the point instead of a label, and the site's action titles guide shows the practice with examples. The weights, word limits and word lists below are this site's own rule of thumb, not a published standard.

Scoring: every title earns up to 100 points, 30 for a verb, 20 for a number, 15 for a so-what, 15 for length, 10 for having no filler label and 10 for specific wording. A title with a verb and at least 80 points counts as an action title. From 55 points with a number or a so-what it counts as almost there. Every other title with a verb is a weak claim, and every title without a verb is a topic title.

Verb: the title needs a verb form from a built-in list of about 700 English and 600 German word forms. The list holds auxiliaries (is, are; ist, sind), common business verbs in their regular forms (grew, fell, reduce; stieg, senken, steigerten) and one headline pattern, up or down followed by a measure, as in “up 18%”. Words that are both noun and verb, such as plan, report or cost, count only where a verb can stand, for example after a pronoun or before a number. German nouns are capitalized, so a capitalized word inside the title is never read as a verb. When in doubt the checker finds no verb, so a verb that is not on the list shows as No verb found. A title that opens with a question word such as why, how or what, or ends with a question mark, counts as a question and scores 54 at most.

Number: a numeral that measures something, such as 18, $2.4M, 40% or 3x, or a number word such as three or doubled. Years (2026), quarters (Q3), weeks and dates do not count, because they only place the slide in time.

So-what: a word that adds a reason, a contrast, a comparison or a decision, such as because, so, but, while, than, if, must, weil, deshalb, aber, während, or a second clause with its own verb after a comma or semicolon. It is a proxy, and a so-what can be phrased without any of these words.

Length: 6 to 15 words earn all 15 points, 4 to 5 or 16 to 18 words earn 10, up to 22 words earn 5, and 3 words or fewer, or more than 22, earn nothing. The upper limit follows the action titles guide, which puts two lines at about 15 words; the lower limit is our choice.

Filler and vague wording: words such as overview, summary, update, results, status, takeaways or next steps (Überblick, Zusammenfassung, Ergebnisse, Fazit in German) mark a label. A label in a title without a verb costs 10 points unless the title also holds a number, and a label before a colon, as in “Update: revenue grew 18%”, costs 5. Words such as significant, strong, various or several (erheblich, deutlich, verschiedene) cost 10 points when no number backs them up.

Not scored: agenda, contents, outline, appendix, backup, questions, thank you, contact and numbered section dividers are structural slides, where a short title is fine, so they stay out of the average. The checker also flags titles that repeat an earlier one.

What it reads: the wording of a title, meaning verb, length and numbers, in English and German. Whether a claim is true and whether the slide proves it stays your call, and a title with the right words but little content still needs your eye. Your text stays on your device. Only when you open the brief in the editor, the titles in the brief travel in the link to Slaide's sign-up page.