Course Accessibility Checklist: Text Styles

"Text can be transformed into sound through voice synthesizers in screen readers. Text can also be enlarged by screen enlargement or magnification software, without any loss of quality. These are the two main reasons why having content in text format is so important for accessibility. Although it is possible to provide alternative text for graphics, it is not possible to enlarge text in most graphics without some loss of quality." (http://webaim.org/techniques/fonts/)

• Do not use the Word Art function in Microsoft Office products; screen readers will not read word art as actual words.
• Do not create graphics that contain text (e.g. for the banner image option in Blackboard) unless you provide alternate text for the graphic; screen readers will not interpret and read the text in the graphic.
• Use bold and italics for emphasis, not color.
• Don’t underline words since on a web page this indicates the underlined text is a hyperlink.

Use a Sans Serif font (font without "feet" or ornamentation).

• Suggested fonts include Arial, Tahoma, and Verdana.

• Verdana is considered the easiest to read of the basic Sans Serif fonts. It is larger, has more spacing between letters, and its characters are not easily confused.  The font on this page is Verdana.

Use no more than three different fonts throughout a document, slide, or course.

• The use of too many fonts and font sizes can create visual confusion and is not esthetically appealing.  Multiple fonts on a page, document, slide, or course can make reading difficult for all users and creates particular difficulties for users with visual impairment, reading disorders, learning disabilities, or attention deficit disorders.  Consistency in font size and type assists most readers with locating and processing information. 

• It is also a good practice to avoid large areas of text as this can interfere with processing information for some readers. Try using headings to identify sections of the text, or use bulleted or numbered lists instead of long paragraphs.

• Avoid the use of roman numerals as screen readers do not interpret them as numbers. 

• For additional information on the use of fonts for accessibility go to WebAIM: Fonts.

Avoid capitalizing content and other styles for emphasis.

• Using all capitalized characters for phrases or sentences is not a good idea.  Capitalized content may suggest to the sighted user that the author is shouting.

• Long passages of capitalized content are difficult to read. 

• Most screen readers do not interpret the emphasis intended by capitalized content so the user might miss the author's intention.  A better way to emphasize content is to use an exclamation point which will trigger many screen readers to change the voice tone to emphasize the content.    

• Some screen reader will interpret capitalized letters as acronyms.  For example, the screen reader might read CONTACT US as Contact U. S. or United States.   

• The use of bold characters is a good was to show emphasis, but avoid italics which are difficult to read and underlined text which can be misinterpreted by screen readers as a hyperlink.

eLearning WTCC. Making Accessible Font Choices. YouTube. 29 March 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Do not flash, scroll or animate text in anyway. This is distracting and hard to read.

"Blinking text and moving text (such as a marquee) can distract the reader's attention. This is especially relevant to people with attention deficits or cognitive disabilities. Neither is likely to cause a seizure, but they are likely to decrease the readability of the document as a whole and increase the time it takes for users to finish reading it. The situation is further complicated if users are required to click on moving text. Users with slower reaction times, tremors, or other motor difficulties may not be able to click on the links accurately." (http://webaim.org/techniques/fonts/)