diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 91768b3..daa00c1 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@
 - [x] Auto-show contact on public TFE page when contact_visible is filled (no checkbox needed)
 - [x] Fix file size limits: align all layers (JS/FilepondHandler/ThesisFileHandler/validate-fragment) — video/audio 5 GB, default 500 MB, PDF 100 MB; fix JS fileValidateSizeFilter gate bug that rejected AV files >1 GB despite 8 GB per-ext cap
 - [x] Fix: deleting contact groups in apropos form not persisted (no change event after DOM removal, autosave never triggered)
+- [x] Improve h1, h2, h3 size difference in base.css heading scale
diff --git a/app/public/assets/css/base.css b/app/public/assets/css/base.css
index ca18cf2..35eab4a 100644
--- a/app/public/assets/css/base.css
+++ b/app/public/assets/css/base.css
@@ -63,27 +63,27 @@ main * {
 
 /* Global heading scale — used by admin + public pages */
 h1 {
-	font-size: var(--step-4);
+	font-size: var(--step-5);
 }
 h2 {
 	font-size: var(--step-3);
 }
 h3 {
-	font-size: var(--step-2);
-}
-h4 {
 	font-size: var(--step-1);
 }
-h5 {
+h4 {
 	font-size: var(--step-0);
 }
-h6 {
+h5 {
 	font-size: var(--step--1);
 }
+h6 {
+	font-size: var(--step--2);
+}
 
 :where(h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6) {
 	font-family: var(--font-display);
 	font-weight: 400;
-	margin: 0 0 var(--space-l) 0;
+	margin: 0 0 var(--space-m) 0;
 	line-height: 1.15;
 }
diff --git a/app/public/assets/css/components/search.css b/app/public/assets/css/components/search.css
index 8298ad9..b1962cd 100644
--- a/app/public/assets/css/components/search.css
+++ b/app/public/assets/css/components/search.css
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ form[role="search"]:not(.header-search-form) {
 #site-search-input {
 	width: 100%;
 	padding: var(--space-2xs) var(--space-s);
-	padding-left: calc(18px + var(--space-l));
+	padding-left: calc(18px + var(--space-m));
 	border: 1px solid var(--accent-primary);
 	border-radius: var(--radius);
 	background: var(--bg-primary);
diff --git a/app/public/assets/css/content-page.css b/app/public/assets/css/content-page.css
index bdc161a..a437285 100644
--- a/app/public/assets/css/content-page.css
+++ b/app/public/assets/css/content-page.css
@@ -82,10 +82,6 @@
 	margin-bottom: 0;
 }
 
-.page-content > article :where(h1, h2, h3) {
-	margin: 1.5em 0 0.5em 0;
-}
-
 .page-content > article a {
 	color: inherit;
 	text-decoration: none;
diff --git a/app/src/MarkdownHelper.php b/app/src/MarkdownHelper.php
index b277e60..0c75249 100644
--- a/app/src/MarkdownHelper.php
+++ b/app/src/MarkdownHelper.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 class MarkdownHelper
 {
     /**
-     * Extract h1–h3 headings from raw markdown content as TOC items.
+     * Extract h1 headings from raw markdown content as TOC items.
      *
      * Each heading gets an anchor id matching CommonMark's default slugification
      * (lowercase, spaces → hyphens, punctuation stripped).
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class MarkdownHelper
         $normalizer = new \League\CommonMark\Normalizer\SlugNormalizer();
 
         foreach ($lines as $line) {
-            if (preg_match('/^#{1,3}\s+(.+)$/', $line, $m)) {
+            if (preg_match('/^#\s+(.+)$/', $line, $m)) {
                 $label = trim($m[1]);
                 $id = $normalizer->normalize($label);
                 $items[] = ['label' => $label, 'href' => '#' . $id];