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Readable Content – Organizing Information: Lists and Columns

Introduction

Readable content is text that can be easily understood and processed by all users, including those with disabilities. It involves careful consideration of typography, color, layout, and formatting to ensure information is accessible to people with various visual, cognitive, and reading abilities.

Good, readable content reduces cognitive load, improves comprehension, and ensures that everyone can access and understand your information regardless of their abilities or the assistive technologies they use.

In this section, our main topic is Organizing Information, which includes Lists and Columns.

How Readable Content Helps with Accessibility?

Readable content directly supports accessibility by 1) supporting users with visual Impairments, 2) assisting cognitive accessibility, 3) improving screen reader experience, 4) reducing eye strain, and 5) enhancing mobile accessibility.

  1. Supporting Users with Visual Impairments: Clear typography and proper contrast help users with low vision, color blindness, or other visual disabilities read content more easily.
  2. Assisting Cognitive Accessibility: Simple, well-structured content helps users with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or other cognitive differences process information more effectively.
  3. Improving Screen Reader Experience: Properly formatted content with clear headings, lists, and link text helps screen reader users navigate and understand content efficiently.
  4. Reducing Eye Strain: Good typography and color choices benefit everyone, including users who experience fatigue or have temporary vision issues.
  5. Enhancing Mobile Accessibility: Readable content is especially important on smaller screens, where text clarity becomes even more critical.

Lists

About Lists

Lists should always be created using the bullet and numbering list tools available. When assistive technology is used to read the page, it will announce the list so the user knows that the content belongs together as a collection of information or a sequence.

A list is not a list if you use the tab or space keys to align items. This may look like a list visually, but it will not have the underlying semantic structure necessary to appear as a list to assistive technology. Instead, the assistive technology will read one line at a time from left to right, and what you intended as a list will be read as if it were a paragraph. Lists must be identified structurally for assistive technology to recognize them.

Types of Lists

Unordered Lists

Unordered lists use bullets and are used when there is no order of sequence or importance. Examples include a shopping list or recipe ingredients. See the shopping list example below:

  • Milk
  • Bread
  • Butter
  • Eggs

Ordered Lists

Ordered lists are numbered lists and are used for sequential or ordered lists. Examples include instructions or a process to be followed in order. See the example below on how to take a photograph with your digital camera:

  1. Check that the battery is charged
  2. Remove lens cap
  3. Turn on power
  4. Aim the camera lens at the subject
  5. Adjust focus
  6. Press the shutter button

Definition Lists (HTML Only)

A definition list is a list of terms and corresponding definitions. Definition lists are typically formatted with the term on the left and the definition following on the right or on the next line. The definition text is typically indented with respect to the term. See the example of a list of terms and definitions:

List of Terms and Definitions

Unordered List

This is the definition of the first term.

Ordered List

This is the definition of the second term.

Definition List

This is the definition of the second term.

How Do Lists Impact Accessibility?

Avoid creating lists with symbols or manually inserted numbers because screen readers will not read them as a grouping or list. When using a list in columns, a screen reader will likely see the two columns as two separate lists rather than one continuous list.

How Do I Create Accessible Lists?

The easiest method to create accessible lists is to use the list icon in the content editor. Below are some tutorials to assist you in a few major environments:

“Lists” was created by Melissa Martinez and Regina Harrison at Scottsdale Community College.

Columns

When used appropriately, columns can enhance the clarity and visual organization of a document. However, if misused, they can create barriers for individuals using assistive technologies or those with cognitive or visual impairments.

Columns are often used to present content in a more organized or magazine-style format. While they can improve readability for sighted users, they pose challenges for screen readers, which typically read content from left to right and top to bottom. Improperly formatted columns can cause text to be read out of order, confusing the logical flow of information.

To ensure columns are accessible:

  • Use built-in column formatting tools in your word processor, rather than manually creating columns with tables or tabs.
  • Avoid using columns for critical reading content unless necessary.
  • Maintain a logical reading order (e.g., left to right) and keep content in columns short and simple.

Summary

Creating readable content is one of the most impactful ways to improve accessibility for all users. This guide covered the essential elements that make content accessible: structuring lists and columns clearly. By implementing these practices, you create content that works for users with visual impairments, cognitive differences, and various assistive technologies, while also improving the experience for all users. Remember that accessible design is universal design. When you make content more readable for users with disabilities, you make it better for everyone.

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

MCCCD Accessibility Micro Developments Copyright © by Carla Ghanem; Deborah Baker; Rob Morales; and Stephanie Williams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.