Clear language
This helps:
- people in a hurry – simply written content is easier to scan and absorb instantly
- people who are stressed – if you're anxious you find it harder to comprehend things
- people who are multi-tasking – if you're holding a baby or a running business your attention's divided
- cognitive impairments – easy to understand words and sentences carry less cognitive load
- visual impairments – short and simple sentences convey meaning in a smaller visual field
- motor impairments – it's less tiring when you can understand what you read quickly
Guidelines
Plain English
Make content clear and understandable, to open the web up for users with different literacy levels and access challenges.
WCAG states that "using the clearest and simplest language appropriate is highly desirable."
The United Nations recommends plain language for communications.
1. Choose easy and short words not formal, long ones.
Use ‘buy’ instead of ‘purchase’, ‘help’ instead of ‘assist’, and ‘about’ instead of ‘approximately’.
Write for the reading comprehension of a 9 year old. This helps you reach the most users and makes your content easy to scan.
2. Jargon and buzzwords are unlikely to be clear language.
Often, these words are too general and vague and can lead to misinterpretation or empty, meaningless text. Avoid them. Instead, think about what the term actually means and describe that. Be open and specific.
Example:
"Let's touch base in 10 and do some blue sky thinking." This uses jargon.
"Let's meet in 10 minutes to think of some ideas." Conveys same meaning using clear language.
3. Write conversationally.
Picture your audience and write as if you were talking directly to them, with the authority of someone who can help and inform.
4. Test your content with users
What is 'plain' for one person may not be for someone else.
Usability evidence: plain English
Guideline 3.1 Readable: Make text content readable and understandable., Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, 2008.
'Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities', page 4 Article 2, Definitions, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2018.
'Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts', H. Loranger, Nielsen Norman Group, 2017
'The Public Speaks: An Empirical Study of Legal Communication', C. R. Trudeau in 14 Scribes J. Leg. Writing 121 2012
'Strengthening plain language', International Plain Language Federation. Undated.
Plain Language Commission style guide, Plain Language Commission, 2011
'The principles of readability', Impact Information, William H. DuBay, 2004
Plain language entry, Wikipedia, last updated 2018
Simple sentences
1. Make your average sentence 15 words long.
The maximum sentence length for a good level of comprehension is 25 words. Split long sentences up into 2 or 3, or use bullet points.
Oxford Guide to plain English, GOV.UK and linguists agree 15 word sentences are fine but above 40 words is hard to understand.
2. Avoid complex sentence structures.
They are less easy to comprehend quickly. Understanding them requires more cognitive effort than simple sentences.
Complexity depends on:
- number of clauses in a sentence, the more clauses the more complex it is
- distribution of associated words across the sentence – how easily can the brain 'parse a phrase': recognise, connect and comprehend words that together convey meaning
Example:"The red fox jumped over the gate." – easier to understand
"The fox, which was red, over the gate jumped." – harder to understand
Usability evidence: simple sentences
Oxford Guide to plain English
Jyoti Sanyal 'Indlish'
Author Ann Wylie
Writing for GOV.UK, UK Government website
'Sentence length: why 25 words is our limit', Inside GOV.UK, UK Government blog, 2014
'Content design', Sarah Richards, 2017
'The role of word difficulty and sentence length in text comprehension', T. M. Duffy and P. K. U'Ren, 1982
'The Influence of Semantics and Syntax on What Readers Remember', C. S. Isakson and J. H. Spyridakis, 1999
'How the brain attunes to sentence processing: Relating behavior, structure, and function', A. Fengler, L. Meyer, A. D. Friederici, National Center for Biotechnology Information
'Functional Analysis of Clause Complex in the Language of News Websites Texts: A Comparative Study of Two Articles', F. M. S. Eid, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 6, Issue 6, June 2016
Reading Level, Understanding SC 3.1.5, WCAG, 2008
'Readability Assessment of Internet-Based Consumer Health Information', T. M. Walsh and T. A. Volsko in Respiratory Care October 2008, 53 (10) 1310-1315
'The research basis of plain language techniques: Implications for establishing standards', Karen Schriver, PhD, Dr. A. L. Cheek, M. Mercer, Center for Plain Language, November 20, 2008, Mexico City
'Readability Levels of Health-Based Websites: From Content to Comprehension', M. Schutten, A. McFarland, PhD, International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 2009, 12:99-107
'Writing smaller', Clarity Journal no. 63, 2010
Plain Language Commission style guide, 2012
'Shorter Lines Facilitate Reading in Those Who Struggle', Matthew H. Schneps , Jenny M. Thomson, Gerhard Sonnert, Marc Pomplun, Chen Chen, Amanda Heffner-Wong, 2013
'Towards a better measure of readability: Explanation of empirical performance results', Leslie A. Olsen & Rod Johnson, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015
'What is plain language?', Plain Language Association International, 2015
Text complexity, ATOS, and Lexile® Measures, Renaissance Learning, 2016
'How to use Yoast SEO: The readability analysis?' Edwin Toonen, Yoast, 2018
The Crystal Mark standard Plain English Campaign, undated
Specialist terms
Make specialist content comprehensible by non-experts.
1. Explain specialist terms: anybody can access your content.
Assuming who your audience is, and that they'll understand the technical terms you use, are common misconceptions.
2. Create content that all users can understand, whatever their expertise or background.
When you present a concept explain its parts and processes in detail.
If you need to include a technical term consider explaining it. Make sure the surrounding language in plain language.
3. Help users understand specialist terms.
You could:
- link to an existing definition – this could be an external site
- add a explanatory definition after using the term
Example:
"It is a Palladian style stone building, and contains a number of splendid paintings and much fine wood-carving." – original sentence (source yourdictionary.com).
"It is a Palladian style stone building, and contains a number of splendid paintings and much fine wood-carving." – with link to a definition.
"It is a Palladian style stone building and contains a number of splendid paintings and much fine wood-carving. Palladian style architecture features include columns, symmetry and decorative arches." – with explanatory definition.
Usability evidence: specialist terms
'Writing Digital Copy for Domain Experts', Nielson Norman Group, 2017
'Writing Digital Copy for Specialists vs. General Audiences', Nielson Norman Group, undated
'Plain Language For Everyone, Even Experts' Nielson Norman Group, undated
'TechWhirl Fast 5: Understanding Plain Language and Simplified Technical English', Connie Giordano, TechWhirl, 2017
'Advantages and disadvantages with Simplified Technical English', Msc thesis paper, Karin Disborg, 2007
'Technical Writing Need Not Be Abstruse—Use Plain Language for Maximum Impact', Colleen Blessing, 2015
'The Facets of the General Public as Audience' Cheryl Stephens and Mariah Stufflebeam, 2017
Here's some sector specific guidance for medicine, money and law.
And here's our list of jargon words to avoid!