I recently published an article about presenting content for effective onscreen reading. When researching content for the article, I found the following useful do’s and don’ts posters produced by the UK Government.
Getting access to these posters
These posters have excellent visuals that clearly supplement the easy-to-understand do’s and don’ts. Each poster is available as a separate document:
- Designing for users on the autistic spectrum
- Designing for users of screen readers
- Designing for users with low vision
- Designing for users with physical or motor disabilities
- Designing for users who are deaf or hard of hearing
- Designing for users with dyslexia
My ideas about designing onscreen presentation of content
I use WordPress for my website. WordPress is a web content management system. It was originally created as a tool to publish blogs but has evolved to support publishing other web content, including more traditional websites.
I have selected a very basic and uncluttered template for my website. The page layout, linear format, white space, font sizes, font styles, and font colours are determined by WordPress. I trust WordPress to give me the best simple-to-use tools that will enable me to present easy-to-read content. However, I must actively participate in the design of my onscreen content. Here is a short list of my ideas when I design and develop my web pages.
Layout
Do
- Align text to the left and keep a consistent layout
- Follow a linear, logical layout
- Build simple and consistent layouts
Don’t
- Underline words, use italics or write capitals
- Spread content all over a page
- Build complex and cluttered layouts
Headings and links
Do
- Break up content with headings and sub-headings
- Write descriptive heading and links – for example, Contact us
Don’t
- Make users read long blocks of content
- Write uninformative heading and links – for example, Click here
Text
Do
- Write in plain English
- Keep content short, clear and simple
- Use simple sentences and bullets
Don’t
- Use figures of speech and idioms
- Use complicated words or figures of speech
- Create a wall of text
Images
Do
- Use images and diagrams to support text
- Use simple colours
Don’t
- Use large blocks of heavy text
- Use bright contrasting colours
In conclusion
A few simple ideas can make it easier for our readers to navigate and get information from onscreen sources. Also, I believe good design can build trust and confidence in the content being presented.
And finally, the design ideas that I have presented in this article can be adapted when we create PowerPoint slides. However, we need to significantly reduce text content when developing our PowerPoint slides.
Reference
[1] https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/02/dos-and-donts-on-designing-for-accessibility/ accessed 12 September 2023
On Target Work Skills 