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Students Affected:

Principles: Write for Comprehension

What It Means

The words you use affect the ability of your students to understand what you are trying to tell them. Excessive jargon or complex phrases make your Web page more difficult to read and understand.

If You Do It Wrong: A student with a learning disability—or even one without any disabilities—may become confused. Complex language could make it difficult for students to keep pace with the course.

If You Do It Right: Students can follow along easily, whether or not they have a disability.

How it Works

1. Use straightforward language to express yourself. Be wary of writing over the heads of your students. It may be harder to express yourself in simple language, but your message will be more clear.
   
   
2. Focus attention by briefly previewing the content and structure of a section.
   
   
3. Place important concepts at the beginning of paragraphs.
   
   
4. Use headings and subheadings to identify main topics.
   
   
5. Break your pages into digestible chunks of content. This also creates more white space, which makes pages easier to read.
   
   
6. Use bulleted lists to summarize long strings of information.
   
   
7. Add meaningful illustrations to simplify and explain complex content.
   
   
   

   Visit the Web Style Guide Web site to learn more about effective page design.

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