How to make website text easier to read

Readability is a layout decision as well as a writing decision. Review the actual service text in the preview, rather than approving typography with short placeholder sentences.

Test realistic content

Use your longest service heading, a complete paragraph and a real email address. Look for awkward heading breaks, excessively wide lines and words extending beyond their container. A typeface that looks attractive in a logo may be tiring in a long paragraph.

Establish a clear hierarchy

Make the page title, section headings and body text visibly different while keeping their relationships consistent. Use descriptive headings that help a visitor scan for an answer. W3C's page-structure guidance recommends meaningful elements and logically nested headings; a large styled paragraph does not replace a proper heading.

Check the colour choices

Review text on every background, including buttons, muted notes and images. Use a contrast checker for the actual colour values and inspect the result in light and dark modes if both are offered. W3C's design guidance stresses sufficient contrast and avoiding colour as the only way to communicate information.

Try zoom and a narrow screen

Increase browser zoom and check whether content reflows without disappearing. Inspect form instructions, labels and footnotes too; they often receive much smaller text than the rest of the page. Do not fix overflow by shrinking important copy until it is difficult to read.

Edit the text with the layout

Split a dense paragraph when it contains separate ideas. Remove jargon a buyer does not need and put exclusions where they are relevant. Keep links identifiable in running text. A long list of keyword variations is not a substitute for an explanation.

Finish with a review by someone who has not worked on the design. Ask them to locate a specific answer and read it comfortably. Record any problem by page and section. These checks improve usability but do not certify full accessibility conformance; a broader evaluation may still be needed.

Practical guidance with illustrative examples. Read our editorial standards or send a correction.