Accessible Formats – a few examples
How to emphasise your headings
Make your heading stand out by increasing the size of the font,
or using bold. Don’t use underlining as this can
affect the word shape, particularly with words that contain
descenders (letters that have dangly bits).
Many people think underlining helps, but words get cramped,
their shape changes, & reading becomes a problem.
The contrast between text colour and background is very
important. Changing the contrast can be used to highlight
particular pieces of text or headings. If there is not enough
contrast is between the text and background the words can be hard
to read.
| Black on white like this is one of is the best choices
for
contrast.
|
|
A good contrast can also be achieved with other colours
– for example black on pale cream like
this. |
Using white or pale text over a dark colour can also be
effective
Using two dark colours would give a poor contrast.
You
don’t
need
to
j u s t i f y
it!
Do not justify your
text. It stretches the
words across the page,
and can create irregular
spacing
between
words like
the ones in
this
sentence.
It is better to align to the left side of the page like
this. Writing in this way helps the reader to follow the text
quickly and easily. It is recommended that a gap between
words is never more than two spaces wide.
Use of Colours
Be aware that colours such as red often used to
emphasise important words are actually more
difficult to read. Words written in
yellow almost completely
disappear on a white background. Many people have
difficulty distinguishing between red and green or yellow and
purple – so please be careful not to use these colour
combinations.
Please think about use of colour if the document may be printed
off to be used – a lot of forms are done this way. Lots of
people will only have black and white printers, so for example
- white words written on blue background is fine but when printed
out on a black and white printer the white print fades into the
grey.
Text Only
A text only version of information should be made available as
an option for people to download. This can be done in Word
and should have all images and “interesting” graphics
removed.
Using photographs and images
Using photographs and images is fine if you put text alongside
the image like this. This way both the text and image remain clear.
Putting text over the graphic confuses them both.
Please remember
These are examples for guidance of what are generally useful or
poor ways to format. Different people will have different
access needs, and if someone requests information in an accessible
format, please ask what format they would prefer and provide it as
appropriate.
