Top Ten Essentials for Digital Content Accessibility

Write for Clarity: Write content that is clear, concise, and easy to understand, because clarity supports comprehension for all learners and assistive technologies. This is best practice not only for accessibility but for writing in general.

Use Plain, Direct Language: Choose familiar words, keep sentences short, and explain or avoid specialized terms, idioms, and jargon whenever possible. If you do incorporate specialized terms, be sure to define them for the reader.

Target an Appropriate Reading Level: Aim for a reading level most people can understand by breaking complex ideas into smaller, clearly explained parts. This is an evidence-based pedagogical practice that yields tangible results for reader comprehension.

Explain Acronyms and Abbreviations: Spell out acronyms and abbreviations the first time they appear so all readers, including first-time and screen-reader users, understand what they mean. In longer documents, you might consider restating an acronym’s meaning later to support comprehension.

Organize Content Clearly: Use clear headings, short paragraphs, and lists to convey structure and help readers quickly find and understand key information. Clear structure helps screen readers and other assistive technologies interpret relationships between ideas.

Keep Layouts Simple: Avoid dense blocks of text and use spacing and formatting that remain readable when content is resized or reflowed. This supports users zooming in and out or adjusting layout settings without losing access to information.

Check Your Writing: Use readability tools to identify and revise confusing or overly complex sentences that may create barriers to understanding. These tools, while not foolproof, can help to flag potential issues which may prove difficult for some readers or assistive technologies to process.

Review with Real Users: When possible, ask someone unfamiliar with the topic to review your content for clarity, assumptions, and confusing language. This is particularly important when your writing is intended to teach or otherwise instruct the reader.

Headings: Use clear, descriptive headings in a logical order so users and assistive technologies can easily navigate your content. Properly structured headings support keyboard navigation and screen reader shortcuts.

Text and Font Size: Choose readable fonts (ideally sans-serif) and spacing that allow text to be resized or adjusted without loss of clarity or functionality.