Accessibility: Visual guidelines - Colour, text and layout

Size of text

The only 'correct' size to display text is the size the user wants. If for some reason you are forced to specify a font size, never use font sizes smaller than 10 pt. Preferably use 12 pt for main content areas and passages of text or learning materials for a general audience. If at all possible, font sizes should not be hard-coded. Use relative sizing instead. If you are developing a desktop product then font preferences should be extracted from the current user's system settings and not ones specified by the developer.

Keep text sizes consistent across a product/site. Never shrink text content by reducing the font size just to 'fit' into a particular design. Either split the content across separate pages or have a design that allows for vertical scrolling instead.

Style of text

Avoid using thin or wispy fonts, especially for long passages of text. Avoid using italics on the web as these are harder to read on screen than in print. Do not use underlined text as this may be confused with a hypertext link.

Columns of text

Do not use 'newspaper'-style columns inside content areas - avoid text in multiple columns. These are difficult to read on small display devices and the content may not make sense when spoken by a screen reader.

Text, background and colour

Always place text on top of a solid background. Do not put text content on top of patterns, blended fills or 'watermark'-style background images. Have a strong contrast in colour schemes between text and the background colour. On the web the convention is that links that have been visited should be a different shade from links that have not been visited yet.