ADA Text

Text refers to the written words on your page. Too much text can be a bad thing, but sometimes may be necessary. Use the following tips when working with the text on your page.

Use Font Styles appropriately

• Keep default font sizes - making all of your text large may be easier for you to read, but the fonts are set up on the site to work on any device, not just the one you use.
• Don't bold all of your text, even though you may think it makes it easier to read. This is, in essence, yelling at the user. 
• Bold is used to indicate importance in regards to surrounding text or items.
• Emphasis is generally used to indicate the stress of a word within a sentence.
• Use default colors. Otherwise, the contrast might not be good enough for people with color or other vision disabilities
• Don’t use color to differentiate between things. (“Items in red are required”)
• Never use underline. This is universally known on the web to represent a link and can confuse users.

Use bullet points to quickly convey information

• Bullets are great for long pages full of information – just give them the important stuff first.
• They also help separate one thing from another.

Clearly identify actions that need to be taken

• If the goal of a page or a section of a page is to get the user to do something (like fill out a form), make sure that is clear and stands out.
• There should not be too many actions on a page; one is best.

Don't center text

• When text is centered, users with visual motor or cognitive disabilities might have a harder time reading your content, as they now have to figure out where the next line of information starts.

Keep jargon and acronyms to a minimum and keep reading level in mind 

• Visitors to the site might have different reading abilities and may not know all the words, phrases or acronyms that we do. 
• Speak as plainly as possible, shoot for an 8th grade reading level.