3.2 Readability
Examples include appropriate use of white space, limited use of color, appropriate color contrast, san serif fonts, consistent use of font types, use of header text for screen readers, written at an academic level appropriate for the course, etc.
Points: 3 (Essential)
QM Alignment: 8.2
Overview
Readability reflects how easily students can read and understand the text found in course content. Readability can be impacted by:
Context
- Education Level
- Student Level
- Language Level
- Presentation
Design
- Hierarchy & Structure
- Headers
- Scannable Content & Text
- White Space & Use of Separators
- Consistency & Organization
- Key Idea Emphasis & Graphics
Type
- Font Style
- Color Contrast
- Line Height
- Letter Spacing
- Line Length
- Text Density
Ways to Meet Standard 3.2
- appropriate use of white space
- limited use of color
- appropriate color contrast
- san serif fonts, consistent use of font types
- use of header text for screen readers
- captioned video and multimedia
- written at an academic level appropriate for the course
- consistent headings for content
Tips
- Ensure text has proper grammar, spelling, reading level, and uses plain language
- Use more accessible fonts. For online reading, sans-serif fonts (e.g. Arial, Verdana) are generally considered more legible than serif fonts (Times New Roman), narrow fonts or decorative fonts. This e-book is using a sans-serif font: Open Sans.
- All hyperlinks should have informative text – don’t use phrases like ‘Click Here’
- Text and image color contrast should be at least 4.5:1
- Use logically ordered semantic headers to section content
- All tables should have a caption and header row or column
Resources
- How to Fix and Prevent Accessibility Issues in Your Canvas Course – see also the standards in Section 10 of the quality rubric.
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