Plain language skills are vital for surveys. If people can easily understand your questions, then that will help them to give accurate answers. And plain language specialists are constantly thinking about their audience and its needs – which is vitalContinue reading… Use your plain language skills to improve your survey
Category: design to read
Don’t be afraid of the big long page
This post is co-authored by me and Amy Hupe. Long pages of content can seem daunting, so to make them look shorter, designers and developers often reach for things that hide some of the content, such as accordions, tabs, carouselsContinue reading… Don’t be afraid of the big long page
Sentence case or title case in forms?
Is it better to use sentence case or title case in forms? If you think “surely there are more important forms questions than that one” then you are right. Never once, in all my many years of watching people fillContinue reading… Sentence case or title case in forms?
What does low literacy mean in practice?
Hi! You’re reading this, correct? What about someone who has low literacy? What does that actually mean for them? Low literacy means ‘not good at reading’ There’s a lot of low literacy about. One major investigation in the UK discoveredContinue reading… What does low literacy mean in practice?
Readability Formulas: seven reasons to avoid them and what to do instead
I had the honour of working with Ginny Redish on this article on readability formulas. Ginny is a leading authority on writing, accessibility, and content design and usability. I’ve lost count of the number of copies of her excellent book,Continue reading… Readability Formulas: seven reasons to avoid them and what to do instead
Rhetorical accessibility: at the intersection of technical communication and disability studies
This collection, edited by Lisa Meloncon and just published by Routledge, includes a chapter bringing a more academic spin to the earlier article on designing for accessibility co-authored with Janice (Ginny) Redish, Kathryn Summers and Kath Straub. That article, DesignContinue reading… Rhetorical accessibility: at the intersection of technical communication and disability studies
Design to read: guidelines for people who do not read easily
People may struggle with reading for many reasons – from physical and cognitive problems through to stress, lack of time, or the challenges of viewing text on today’s small mobile devices. ‘Design to Read’ was an initiative by a small group of usContinue reading… Design to read: guidelines for people who do not read easily
Embedded links and online reading accessibility
At the 2010 Society for Technical Communication conference in Dallas, Whitney Quesenbery and I were interviewed about the feasibility of removing links embedded directly within paragraphs. These have been described as “exit points” that confuse and disorient low-literacy readers. The interview wasContinue reading… Embedded links and online reading accessibility
Reading with Glaucoma
This article, by Cathy, was originally part of a collection of personal stories published on the Design to Read website. I suffer from glaucoma (Primary, Open-Angle Glaucoma) and have first-hand experience of visual field defects. Most damage has occurred inContinue reading… Reading with Glaucoma
Designing for people who do not read easily
Many people do not read easily for all sorts of reasons: social and cultural, because of impairments, or because of their context. Even in the area of impairments, design for people with learning disabilities might be very different from designContinue reading… Designing for people who do not read easily