Break up your text

Make introductory paragraphs bigger

Visibly larger introductory paragraphs are viewed by 95% of readers. Make the introductory paragraph in a larger font, or consider a bold typeface.

Consider leading sentences

If your first sentence in a section is a summary, then even just reading that first sentence will be beneficial to your reader.

Add a leading summary sentence in bold before a long paragraph of content.

Format headings to stand out

Align them to the left of the page. Make them bold, but do not make them all capitalized letters if there is an alternative.

Make your headings bold and left-aligned. Do not make them all capital letters, or all lower-case letters.

💡 GRIDBit: THIS IS THE INTERNET IN THE 21ST CENTURY, CAPITAL LETTERS ARE NOW CONSIDERED YELLING.

Use bullets effectively

Bullets can be used to list steps or to visually break up text blocks.

  • Limit the levels of bullets to only two or three.

  • Bullets should only be numbered if they are in a specific order.

  • Items included in the bullets should fit together logically.

  • Only use one type of bullet point, ideally the traditional dot.

Break long sentences that list items into bullets, removing unnecessary words.
Use bullets for easily listed items. It can help to bold the title of the list, and add a leading sentence to the list.
Bullets can be used incorrectly. Make sure items in a bulleted list are equivalent: "protect your personal records" is an action, while "strong password" is a noun--so if you want to keep them in the same list, make them both actions or both nouns.

References

Bedford Writing Handbook. Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers, Integrated Media, 2014.

Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Text for Readers. Karen A Schriver, 1997.

Dyslexia Friendly Style Guide. British Dyslexia Association.

Federal Plain Language Guidelines. The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), 2011.

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