Understandable content in websites and documents is an important part of universal design for the web. This article will outline how content creators can design websites and documents that are easy for people to understand.
Understandable Content in Websites and Documents
One principle of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) requires that web content must be understandable. Furthermore, WCAG requires websites to be robust, to work with current and future assistive technologies.
People browsing websites find content easier to understand if text is divided into small sections, using:
- Headings
- Short paragraphs
- Lists
- Space between lines of text
- Consistent layouts and navigation between pages on a site
Similarly, short, simple sentences are easier to understand than long, complex ones. Likewise, clear wording is easier to understand than verbose vocabulary.
Moreover, people may find subject matter difficult to understand if it is unfamiliar. For example, someone visiting a website about a subject they are not familiar with may not understand some of the terms specific to that subject, sometimes called jargon. Although most people who visit the site know the subject and the jargon, content creators should make it understandable to newcomers. For instance, content creators could include a page with definitions of subject-specific terms. In this way, people unfamiliar with the subject could learn more about it, and return to visit the site as they continue learning.
Another way to make content understandable is to specify which language text is in. Screen readers pronounce text in a variety of languages. If content creators specify which language text is in, screen readers will pronounce it correctly. On the other hand, screen readers will pronounce unspecified text in the user’s primary language. For example, an English screen-reader user who knows some French might visit a French website. If the language of that site is specified as French, the screen reader will pronounce the words of the site in French. However, if the site’s language is unspecified, the screen reader will read the French words as if they were English.