Improving readability of website

Producing an accessible web site is not just about the coding of the web pages. The content and the way it is presented on the screen can make a big difference to how easy users can get information from your site.

Reading printed text is different from reading from a screen, which tends to be slower. Keeping sentences and paragraph lengths down improves the general readability of a page for all. With any website users will be of different backgrounds and abilities, so keeping the language used for your content as simple as possible is good practice. However for some impairments the way a page is presented and written can make a big difference to how accessible a website is.

For example:

• British Sign Language (BSL) users
  BSL has a different syntax and grammar to standard English, so for a BSL user English will be their second language. They may find long, complicated sentences difficult to understand.

• Dyslexia
  For Dyslexic users, reading is not an unconscious skill. They may have to concentrate more to interpret text and remember what they have read and they may experience visual discomfort as they read. The style of writing and the manner used to present material can make a big difference

Find out more:

Writing styles

Presentation