10 ways to make your information more accessible

Today, there are a range of aids available to help people read texts. However, the most basic way of reading for someone who has a sight impairment will involve using any remaining vision they may have. To follow the text, a person will hold the page very close to their eyes, although they'll only be able to see a small amount of the total page at any one time.

Of course everyone is different, but to help people who have a sight impairment read your text, these handy hints might help:

1. Use a font size of 16 to 24 point. We can be criticised for making things too small but it's unlikely we'll be criticised for making it too large. If in doubt use a larger type size.

2. If you want to stress or highlight a piece of text, use bold. Don't use italics or underlining: both are much harder for sight impaired people to read because they change the shape of letters, and make character recognition harder.

3. If you want to print the document, use a normal type weight. Even though a light option saves ink, it means the contrast between text and background is poor, so it's harder to read.

4. Always align your text to the left margin only. Don't indent the first word of a paragraph, this can make the start of the line difficult to find. Justified text - i.e. aligned to both left and right margins - might look neater to you, but it gives irregular spacing between words. That can make sight impaired readers think they've reached the end of a line when they haven't.

5. If you are putting text in columns, then use a large gutter (the vertical blank space separating the columns so that sight impaired readers don't accidentally read across it into the next column.
   
   

6. If you use a photo, drawing or diagram, ensure they are high resolution (minimum 300 dpi), with good colour contrast and clear outlines.

7. Always use a caption that explains what an image is, and never put the caption, or any other text, over the top of an image or a photo.

   Because we can't be sure that a sight impaired reader will be able to see and interpret a whole image (it's likely that only a small part of it may be seen at one time), try to make sure that the message in the image isn't crucial to the text. If it is, make sure there's a clear explanation in the text.

8. Always use matt paper, as glossy paper and finishes reflect light off the surface and make them harder to read.

9. Printing double-sided saves paper, but if you're using large print, do check that the type doesn't show through on the other side. If it does, use single-sided or thicker paper.

10. A4 paper is a good size. Larger sheets are more likely to have to be folded, and that creates creases that can make text harder to read.