DEV 4.2 - Prioritise information, maximise readability and scanning

Recommendations

Make it as easy as possible for people to get an impression of what's on offer and find the specific piece of information quickly.

• Prioritise the most important information:
  • Place important items high in the page (above the 'fold') to minimise the need for scrolling:
    • Screen reader users will also be presented with this information earlier;
  • Put the most important information first in links, titles, phrases:
    • This will emphasise the uniqueness of the item and aid quick comprehension.
• Enhance content for scanning:
  • Structure using short descriptive headings and sub-headings (see also DEV 5.2);
  • Use good chunking and spacing to create 'conceptual units' of related content;
  • Use short paragraphs and sentences;
  • Use lists instead of long, comma-separated sentences;
  • Add relevant tables and diagrams to break up 'walls of text'.
• Style for readability:
  • Left align all body text:
    • Do not right, centre or justify - this makes it hard to read especially for some people with reading difficulties such as dyslexia;
  • Use bold and italic sparingly:
    • Highlight key words and key phrases,
    • Do not bold or italicise whole paragraphs;
  • Avoid fancy fonts:
    • Verdana and Arial are almost universally available and they are good for online reading;
  • Avoid ALL CAPS, blinking text;
  • Do not use underline for anything other than links.
• Do not use ascii art:
  • If this cannot be avoided, then provide a description of it and a link to bypass it:
    • Otherwise screen reader users will be presented with a jumble of incomprehensible characters.

Examples