# 2.5 Readability

## Screen Reader Interactions

{% hint style="info" %}

* Carefully watch the language you use for the writing on your page. Perfect technical accessibility cannot help you if your reader cannot understand your writing.
* Poorly formatted page text can detract from your page's readability. 
* Long paragraphs are difficult to read on digital screens.
* Poor text spacing, such as word spacing created by justified text, makes pages hard to read for people with dyslexia.
* Literacy research has concluded that half of American adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.
  {% endhint %}

## Solutions

### Language

* Write in shorter, clear sentences and paragraphs. 
* Use headings to break your articles into readable sections of text.
* Always keep your audience in mind. 
  * Use the most appropriate language for your audience.
  * Avoid jargon and figures of speech.
  * Avoid using unnecessarily complex words and phrases.
  * If this is unavoidable, consider providing a glossary for terms readers may not know.
* Expand acronyms on first use. For example, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the source for these writing tips.
* Consider illustrations (images, video, audio) to help clarify meaning.
  * Don't forget to include alternative methods for understanding them such as alternative text for images and closed captioning/transcripts for video.

### Formatting

* Use list formatting as appropriate.
* Don't use underlined text — this is reserved for links. Use bold text for emphasis instead.
* Avoid using all caps for text.
* Avoid justified text.
* Left align text to keep word spacing consistent.
* Do not mix fonts within article paragraphs.
  * On a given page ideally use only one heading font and one paragraph font. 
  * You can use multiple weights of each font for emphasis — bold versus regular font thickness.

## Testing

Classic editing is fabulous. Having someone else critique and/or edit your work before publishing is the perfect way to catch readability issues.

## Read More...

* [Tips for Getting Started Writing for Web Accessibility](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tips/writing/) from the World Wide Web Consortium.


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