How to present more readable text for people with dyslexia

Rello, Luz, 1984-; Baeza Yates, Ricardo

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10209-015-0438-8

How to present more readable text for people with dyslexia

Citation

Rello L, Baeza-Yates R. How to present more readable text for people with dyslexia. Univers Access Inf Soc. 2017 Mar 1;16(1):29-49. DOI: 10.1007/s10209-015-0438-8

Abstract

The presentation of a text has a significant effect on the reading speed of people with dyslexia. This paper presents a set of recommendations to customize texts on a computer screen in a more accessible way for this target group. This set is based on an eye tracking study with 92 people, 46 with dyslexia and 46 as control group, where the reading performance of the participants was measured . The following parameters were studied: color combinations for the font and the screen background, font size, column width as well as character, line and paragraph spacings. It was found that larger text and larger character spacings lead the participants with and without dyslexia to read significantly faster . The study is complemented with questionnaires to obtain the participants’ preferences for each of these parameters, finding other significant effects. These results provide evidence that people with dyslexia may benefit from specific text presentation parameters that make text on a screen more readable. So far, these recommendations based on eye tracking data are the most complete for people with dyslexia.