Use Accessible Text

Rey: I need the bonding tape. Hurry!

Finn: What about you?

Rey: I need to get back to Jakku.

Finn: Back to Jakku? Why does everyone ..

Rey: It's not that one ..

Rey: No, no!

Rey: The one I'm pointing to.

Rey: No! No!

Rey: If we don't patch this up, the propulsion tank will overflow and flood the ship wish poisonous gas!

Finn: This?

Rey: Yes!

Andy Sheppard:

So what does that Star Wars scene have to do with accessibility? When we are designing online courses, we strive to be as clear as possible with our instructions. We do so by strategically using fonts, or attention-grabbing formatting options such as bold, italics, highlighting and so forth.

Similar to our Star Wars heroin, our goal is to effectively point and sequentially draw attention to a particular item amongst several items. But we don’t have the benefit of a cute little robot to help us out.

Our use of fonts and formatting, however, can help us draw attention to important information. Let’s take a look at a few of the positive attributes of fonts, in particular.

Fonts can create mood and atmosphere. Fonts can give visual clues about the order a document should be read Fonts can indicate which parts (of a document) are more important than others. And fonts can influence how long it takes someone to read a document.

If we’re not careful with our selection or use of fonts, we can potentially impede learning. Let’s consider a few of the potential disadvantages.

Small or extremely decorative fonts can be difficult to read. Too many different fonts on one page can appear chaotic and distracting (Pepper, M., Hurm, N., & Breeze, 2016).

Sometimes font selection might send an unintended message. The most popular example is using Comic-sans when attempting to convey a serious tone. Comic- sans font is often used to generate a feeling of fun or playfulness.

The bottom line is that the excessive use of fonts or formatting can impede readability, regardless if a learner has a visual impairment or not. So, here are some tips to improve readability of online material (whether the textual information is provided in documents, presentations, or web pages.)

Use Sans-serif fonts (Penn State, 2016) such as Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, and Calibri. Avoid the use of underlined text (as this text can be confused with web links.) Avoid using blue text (similarly, blue text can be mistaken for a web link.)

Avoid relying on color as a sole means of highlighting important information (consider using bold or italicize instead.) Limit the use of special formatting (for example avoid using bold, italicize, red text and highlighting on a single page of information.)

Minimize different font selections. Professor Saxowsky, from Western Oregon University, advises using no more than two fonts in the same document. While there isn’t a broad consensus on the specific number of fonts one should use, there is a general agreement that less is more when fonts are concerned.

Consider using headers to break up paragraphs of information into logical segments. The use of headers assists visually impaired learners by allowing them to more quickly navigate through material, but all learners benefit from improved readability when content is logically organized.

Use high-contrasting text colors, such as black on white, or white on dark blue. Use lists to group logical segments of information. Visit the Accessibility @ Santa Fe College website for more tips.

In closing, our font selection and formatting provide us with important ways that we can effectively guide learners through our online courses. Thanks for watching.