Typographic formatting
Accessible typography avoids overusing ALL CAPS, italics, underlines, hyphenation, and busy backgrounds. Use formatting sparingly, ensure clarity with dividers, and maintain clean backgrounds to reduce distraction, cognitive load, and misinterpretation for readers.
Letter case, formatting, and text clarity
Letter case
People generally find text set in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS to be more difficult to read than text set in mixed-case, or Title Case. Typesetting in ALL CAPS should only be used sparingly for purposeful differentiation or emphasis. Avoid using it for any text longer than a few words.
Formatting
Typographic formatting such as bold, italic, and especially underline should be used sparingly, as they create visual distraction. Only use this type of formatting when it genuinely enhances communication for all readers. Avoid using italics and underline for emphasis, as they tend to reduce legibility and readability. Underlines also typically signal links and should be used only for that purpose online.
Hyphenating
Avoid hyphenating lines of text, as remembering partial words can add to a reader’s cognitive load. If you absolutely must hyphenate, make sure it is done so that the meaning of the entire word is strongly implied by the first part of the word shown before the hyphen.
Never manually insert a hyphen in order to hyphenate a line of text. Some screen readers will read the hyphen as an intrusive part of the text. For example, “he is bald-ing” may be read to a visitor as “he is bald dash ing.” Only use soft-hyphens or discretionary hyphens, if you must hyphenate lines at all.
Small Vertical Dividers
If you are using a small vertical dividing line in your typography, ensure that it cannot be confused with any letters or numbers. Format it in such a way as to avoid this potential confusion, particularly if you are using a sans serif font.
Backgrounds
Avoid background images or other graphic elements behind text. The legibility and readability of a text benefit from the clarity provided by a clean, consistent background.