Transcript Dyslexia and the Web - School of Computing

Dyslexia and the Web
The Web
• The arrival of the World Wide Web on our computer monitors means
that it suffers from the faults of any new medium:
• websites are often hastily put together;
web designers are often new to the skill;
• text is often presented in unreadable formats, even on white/yellow
text on black backgrounds;
• finding your way around a website is often difficult;
• some advertisers will do anything, however irritating, to attract
attention to their little box;
More Issues
• many designers view web pages from the point of view of a
computer expert rather than from the point of view of the ordinary
people who will read their pages;
it is assumed that everyone viewing web pages is skilled at using a
computer;
designers are tempted to do anything to hold people within their own
sites (making them 'sticky' is the expression they use), rather than to
provide helpful links to information which may lie beyond their site;
and, last but not least, web pages are mostly put together almost
exclusively by men! Perhaps there is a need for some feminine
perceptions, intuitions and empathy about human behaviour!
Consider the following
Classroom student with dyslexia
• Ms. Olsen attends middle school, and
particularly likes her literature class. She
has attention deficit disorder with dyslexia,
and the combination leads to substantial
difficulty reading. However with recent
accommodations to the curriculum she
has become enthusiastic about this class.
Ms Olsen
• Her school recently started to use more online
curricula to supplement class textbooks.
• She was initially worried about reading load,
since she reads slowly.
• But recently she tried text to speech software,
and found that she was able to read along
visually with the text much more easily when she
could hear certain sections of it read to her with
the speech synthesis, instead of struggling over
every word.
Ms Olsen
• Her classes recent area of focus is Hans
Christian Andersen's writings, and she has to do
some research about the author.
• When she goes onto the Web, she finds that
some sites are much easier for her to use than
others.
• Some of the pages have a lot of graphics, and
those help her focus in quickly on sections she
wants to read. In some cases, though, where the
graphics are animated, it is very hard for her to
focus, and so it helps to be able to freeze the
animated graphics.
Ms Olsen
• One of the most important things for her has
been the level of accessibility of the Web-based
online library catalogues and the general search
functions on the Web.
• Sometimes the search options are confusing for
her.
• Her teacher has taught a number of different
search strategies, and she finds that some sites
provide options for a variety of searching
strategies and she can more easily select
searching options that work well for her.
General Principles
• Navigation should be easy. A site map is
helpful.
• Use graphics, images, and pictures to
break up text, while bearing in mind that
graphics and tables may take a long time
to download.
• Very large graphics make pages harder to
read.
General Principles
• Offer alternate download pages in a text
reader friendly style.
• Where possible design web pages which
can be downloaded and read off-line.
• Moving text creates problems for people
with visual difficulties. Text reading
software is unable to read moving text.
General Principles
• Contents links should show which pages
have been accessed.
• Most users prefer dark print on a pale
background. Colour preferences vary.
Colours
• Some websites offer a choice of
background colours.
• Encourage the use of hyperlinks at the
end of sentences.
• Avoid green and red/pink as these are
difficult for colour-blind individuals.
• Make sure that it is possible for users to
set their own choice of font style and size,
background and print colours.
Column width.
• There is nothing worse to read than
unbroken text stretching right across your
screen. As the eyes try to scan across, it is
extremely difficult to read on to the next
line. The point of vision gets lost in a sea
of text. (Example) (Example)
Preference
• Far preferable is a narrow column width
like the page this article is written on (6070 characters). This is the sort of width
used by newspapers, and it allows much
easier scanning along the lines of print.
Justified or not?
• Justified text is where the words are spaced out by the
word processor so that both the left and the right sides of
each column are straight lines. Unjustified text - like the
text on this page - leaves a ragged edge down the right
hand side.
• For a dyslexic reader, justified text, with its uneven
spaces between words, creates visual patterns of white
space which are hard to ignore. They distract the reader,
who loses the place.
• Unjustified text is far easier to read, although it is
unfortunately not fashionable in some design-led
magazines.
•
Background color.
• Many dyslexic readers are particularly
sensitive to the brightness of text on a
pure white background. This can cause
the words to appear to move around and
to blur together.
• This difficulty can be avoided if pure white is not used for
the page background color. A slightly off-white color can
easily be achieved (with the code
BGCOLOR="#FFFFE5"). Text is also harder to read on a
patterned or tiled background. (Example.)
• For pages which are heavily used by dyslexic adults or
teenagers, a background color changer can be added to
a page, like the one at the top of this page (which may
be freely copied by any other web designer).
• It is also helpful to keep the page background clear of
unnecessary objects or movement.
Type face.
• Unfortunately, most computer programs are set
up to use Times New Roman as the 'default'
typeface. This is a traditional typeface,
associated with printing, and it looks like this:
• abcdefg hijklm nopqrstu vwwxyz
• You will notice that Times New Roman has lots
of decorative bits added to letters (serifs),
making them more complex to read. Also, the
letter 'g' is more like a number 8.
Preferences
• The typeface 'Arial' being used on this
page is clearer, is more like the letters we
all learned at school, and is preferable.
• Some dyslexic readers prefer the Comic
Sans typeface, but it can appear a bit
childish to some readers.
• Verdana has an open feel and is a
popular choice for websites.
Print size.
• Screen sizes are getting larger, but many people
still view webpages on smaller monitors. This
makes reading any size smaller than 'size 2'
difficult without a magnifying glass!
'.
• Unfortunately, as web designers try to squeeze
more and more information onto their pages,
assuming that their viewers have the same large
monitor screens that they themselves have, it is
becoming more commonly used.
•
This sentence is written in size 8, and deserves the description of 'small print
Avoid italics.
• Italic letters lean over sideways, and are used in
books to emphasize a point. However, when
seen on a computer monitor, they are hard for a
dyslexic person to read.
• When the text size is reduced to size 1, they
become virtually illegible.
• Italic letters should be avoided if at all possible.
It is far more sensible to make important words
bold.
Pictures or images.
• You don't have to be dyslexic to know that scanning a page of
writing is far more pleasurable if there are pictures to look at.
• Pictures, flow charts and pictograms immediately give a sense of
what the page is about. They break up the page into smaller chunks,
and, for a dyslexic reader, provide an immediate visual stimulus and
a visual memory for the future.
• A severely dyslexic teenager who was showing me how he used the
Internet was mumbling to himself: 'Pictures . . . pictures . . . pictures
. . .' as he followed the results listing for his enthusiastic search for
information about motorbikes.
Text boxes or bubbles.
• Text boxes or bubbles can be used for emphasis or to
highlight important points.
• They also serve to break up a long section of dense text.
Example
• Bullet points can also highlight key items, especially if
they are separated by an extra blank space to help
clarity.
•
Moving images.
• Flickering or flashing images are distracting not
only to anyone with visual problems, but to all of
us. Advertisements at the top of pages seem
particularly desperate to force themselves into
our field of attention. If only they knew how offputting their gimmicks are! (Bad example.)
• There are also little effects that can make
images change drastically or patterns appear
around the mouse pointer. These also make it
particularly distracting to people who simply
want to read the information on the page.
Navigation.
•
• Difficulties with a sense of direction often plague
dyslexic readers.
• How often have we all been trapped by some
unimaginative web designer so that we just
cannot get to the page we need on the website!
• The golden rule should be that there is a simple
list of links on each individual page linking to
every other page or section on that site.
Short sentences.
• Long sentences contain more than one idea. It is
perfectly possible to break longer sentences up
into shorter ones. This does not mean that the
sentences are intellectually inferior to a passage
with longer sentences.
• The same ideas can be conveyed equally clearly
in shorter sentences. This gives a dyslexic
reader a break after each sentence. There is a
limit to the length of a complicated sentence that
anyone can take in before our mind gives out!
(Good example.)
Short paragraphs.
• Newspaper stories are good examples of how text can
be broken up to improve readability.
• It is very common for newspaper articles and reports to
be set out so that there is a paragraph break after each
sentence.
• This may not fit in with conventions about correct English
or essay-writing, but that is another issue.
• The priority when reading a newspaper or web-page
should be easy readability, and paragraphs - even of
only one line - should always be spaced out with an
empty line between each paragraph.(Bad example.)
Writing for text-reading software
• Severely dyslexic readers may well be reading
your web-page using a text-reading browser
such as Web Talkster. Whilst highly
recommended, such software programs have
their limitations, such as the inability to
distinguish where headings end.
• The following five guidelines will help to
accommodate these shortcomings:
Guidelines
• Use full stops after headings to make the
program's voice pause and drop in tone;
use semi-colons, commas or full stops after
bullet points to separate each point, which may
otherwise be read as continuous text:
• Do not write words purely in upper-case/capital
letters as they may be read out as single letters
by the program;
• Separate bullet points with an extra space;
No 5
• Use a full stop after a link to separate it
from the following text, e.g.:
Dyslexia Adults Link.
Dyslexia College.
•
Summary
• The whole point of the presentation of text is for
the meaning to be easily digested.
• This can best be achieved on a web-page by
having a paragraph break every sentence or
two.
• Clear, well-spaced pages of unjustified text,
broken up with illustrative pictures, can make
surfing the web a far easier experience for
dyslexic readers.
Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome
• The scotopic sensitivity syndrome - proposed by Helen
Irlen - is that there is an array of perceptual anomalies
that allegedly cause visual dyslexia, (Pumfrey and
Reason, 1991). The syndrome allegedly consists of
visual distortions in four categories.
• Light sensitivity : the ability to accommodate high
contrast and glare.
• Visual resolution: the ability to see print clearly and
without distortions.
• Span of focus: the ability to perceive groups of words
at the same time.
• Sustained focus: the ability to do with tasks with the
eyes in a relaxed state with the objects in focus
Population
• Claims have been made that between 50 and 75 percent of
learning disabled people suffer from this syndrome" Pumfrey
and Reason (1991).
• However, a significant proportion of the 'normal' population
also suffer from this syndrome (Brown pers. com. After
attending an Irlen presentation).
• Pumfrey and Reason (1991) reviewed the literature on the
use of lenses and filters, they consider that the evidence
"indicates that visual problems do not seem to be a major
cause of dyslexia".
• Dyslexic child suffering from scotopic sensitivity are bound to
have their problems exacerbated.
• Although the Irlen lenses involve over 140 variations "the
most significant effect of Irlen lenses is to reduce light overall
rather than affect specific colours" (Moseley (1990b) cited by
Pumfrey and Reason, 1991).
Remedies
• Should teachers suspect that a child has scotopic sensitivity
the most immediate response would be to reduce the light
intensity.
• Certain blackboards and whiteboards are renowned for giving
off a glare when viewed at certain angles. Moving the child to
a different part of the classroom may well help.
• The printed word may be modified by overlaying sheets of
coloured acetate such as are used for OHP transparencies.
These are available in a variety of colours and intensities.
• Photocopying material onto coloured paper is another means
of avoiding the complications of scotopic sensitivity. It is
unlikely that many schools will be able to print specialist
handwriting paper in unobtrusive shades as reported by
Brown (1990
Background Colour
• On Computer Applications change the
background colour
• On the web this can be done using CSS or
it can be done by setting browser options
Ideas for making web pages
dyslexic-friendly:
• Keep paragraphs short, and use a small amount of text on each
page. If a long article is posted, create a topic index at the
beginning, so that the dyslexic reader can quickly narrow in on the
parts that interest him or her.
• Use default font settings or provide a way for users to choose their
own styles. That way, a user can choose their own preferred font
with their browser, or create their own style sheet. Many dyslexics
find they read best with one particular font.
• Keep your main text left-justified. It is very hard to read paragraphs
where all lines are centered or which are right-justified.
• Use a consistent layout and format throughout the site. It helps to
have navigation aids laid out consistently on every page.
More
• If you use frames, be sure to provide a no-frames
alternative; some text-to-speech software cannot read
text on framed pages.
• Make a list of relevant links at the end of a paragraph or
section, rather than merely placing the links within the
body of the text. That way the user can find the important
links without needing to read all the text. Be sure to
clearly describe the type of information or site the link will
lead to.
• Use small icons to help with navigation between
frequently used web pages. There should also be a text
alternative for navigation (or the 'alt' tag should be used),
for those individuals who rely on computers to read the
page contents to them.
More
• Never use flashing text. Do not use animated or moving
graphics unless the animation is necessary to illustrate
important information, such as an animation
demonstrating how a machine works.
• Even so, it is best to place the animation on a different
page, or to set it up to start only when clicked.
• Avoid using background images behind text. Make sure
that there is a good contrast between the color of the
background and the color of text.
• Do not set up background music to play, unless the site
gives the user a choice whether to turn it on.
Remember
• Sites that are designed to be easy for
dyslexics are also easy for others to
use and navigate. Market research
shows that most people find it harder to
read on a computer screen than from
printed sources, so many non-dyslexic
people will appreciate the dyslexic-friendly
format.