Readability

To make your resources accessible for everyone, including people with permanent, situational or temporary impairments, it's important to make your text as readable as possible. But how do you know if your text is readable? One of the best ways is to use a readability checker which tells you the reading age your text is suitable for (links below). Interestingly, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines recommend providing an easy read alternative if your writing is aimed at anyone with a reading age of over 12, while GOV UK recommends a reading age of 9 as the target to aim for. While these ages may seem surprisingly low, it's worth remembering that the way we read online relies on skills such as skimming and scanning more than when we read on paper. As a result anything that we can do to make our text as clear and simple as possible is a huge advantage to making it more readable and accessible for everyone.

Why?

• Readability benefits all of your users, including people who have a cognitive diffference and some second language learners.
• Content which is clear and easy to read will also be clear and easy to understand when it is read aloud by a screen reader, or converted into another format e.g. braille.
• If you use simple and clear language in a video recording this will also be easier to convert into captions or a transcript.

How?

• Be concise.
• Use simple vocabulary. By using common words we can help all readers. If you use longer, more complicated words, readers will skip more. When you use a longer word (e.g. with 8 or 9 letters), users are more likely to skip the shorter words (e.g. with 3, 4 or 5 letters) that follow it.
• Use short sentences. Try to avoid sentences longer than 25 words.
• Use the active instead of the passive voice e.g.

Active - “HR colleagues will assess your results and give you feedback.”

Passive - “Your quiz results will be assessed by HR colleagues, and you will be given feedback.”

• Use pictures or visual elements to explain your ideas (remember to add alt text).
• Use readability checkers to check the reading age of your content

Useful links

• Hemingway readability checker - Gives guidance on how to improve the readability of your text, e.g. identifies passives etc.
• WebFX readability checker - Gives 6 readability scores (e.g. Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Score etc.). Gives a good visual indication of readability.
• GOV.UK: How to write well for your audience, including specialists
• British Dyslexia Association: Style guide

See www.elahub.net for free eLearning accessibility help and resources.