Ampersands
Following this helps:
- people with low English fluency – you're more likely to know the word "and" than a symbol
- cognitive impairments – spelled out words take less mental effort to understand
- visual impairments – text to speech users might experience a glitch with poorly coded ampersands
Guidance
Some screen reading, text to speech applications need the ampersand sign to be coded in a different way in HTML. You may not have control over that.
The symbol can be a distractor, as it's taller than letters and an unusual shape.
Some users will not understand what it means.
1. Use "and" not the ampersand sign "&"
1. Use "and" not the ampersand sign "&"
Always, except for:
- academic references: Brown, G & Smith, P, 2005
- company name as it appears on the Companies House register
- descriptions of logo images, for example "M&S logo"
Usability evidence
GOV.UK Style Guide A to Z UK Government website
"What is preferred to use in alt text “&” or “&” for screenreader users?", 2010
'What Character Was Removed From The Alphabet?' 2011
Etymonline entry on ampersand, 2017
'Punctuation & Grammar: Bridging the Gap Between UX and Copywriting' 2017
'Analyzing the Ampersand: When to use “and” versus “&” in UX writing.' 2018
Ampersands, Oxford English Dictionary. Needs subscription