With the Connects clean-up underway, now is the time to reflect on the readability of your content.
Readability is an important part of accessibility. It lets everyone easily understand your content but also helps those who may have dyslexia or other disabilities.
Further to this, it helps readers find information quicker, as often they will skim pages using features such as heading structure.
The average reading age in the UK is nine years old. UK Government guidelines state that this should be the standard when writing for the web.
Publications from the Scottish and UK governments have been found to be ‘too complex’ for at least half of their readers. This is reflected across agencies, services and the public sector. This is why it is important to put the user journey and experience at the heart of what we create.
If you’re stuck on where to start, here are some key things to consider:
1. Think about who the user is, what they want to do and why as a way of structuring your content
2. Sentences should be short and to the point, keep sentences under 20 words
3. Don’t assume the reader’s understanding, for example, using abbreviated terms without sharing the full term
4. Avoid using shortened terms such as ‘e.g.’, ‘i.e.’, ‘etc’ and instead use ‘for example’, ‘like’, ‘and so on’
5. Use active voice rather than passive
6. Font size should be at least 12 point, using a non-decorative ‘sans serif’ font like Arial or Calibri
7. Applying headings and lists (with the correct formatting) where there may be a lot of information to present allows readers to easily navigate it.
8. Keep text left-aligned to help users scan it easily
9. Avoid using block capitals, italics and underline (underlining should only be used for links) while bold should be used only sparingly.
10. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sections are not good practice as all information the user needs should be held within the rest of the content.
Readability can be further explored on the ‘Readability and writing for the web’ page on Connects. This also includes a helpful guidance video to support you in creating readable content that is inclusive to all.