Designing for Dyslexia and Cognitive Load
Accessibility is not only about physical disabilities. A large number of people have dyslexia, attention differences or other cognitive conditions that make dense, cluttered pages hard to process. Good design eases that mental effort for everyone.
Reducing cognitive load makes your site faster to understand, which benefits busy, distracted and stressed visitors just as much as those with a diagnosed condition.
Design Choices That Help
Several straightforward habits make content far more comfortable to read and absorb.
- Use clear, well-spaced fonts and generous line spacing.
- Left-align body text rather than justifying it.
- Keep paragraphs and sentences short.
- Avoid walls of text with headings and lists.
Reduce Distractions
Limiting movement, pop-ups and competing calls to action helps people focus on the task in hand. A calm, predictable interface is easier for every kind of visitor to use.
Consistency Reduces Effort
Keeping navigation, button styles and page layouts consistent means people learn your site once and apply that knowledge everywhere. Every time a familiar pattern behaves as expected, the mental effort drops — which is especially valuable for users who find change and surprise difficult to process.
If you need a hand with any of this, your Progressive Robot delivery team is ready to help. Raise a ticket from the Support area of your client portal or speak to your account manager and we will guide you through the next steps.