19 Text Layout

The decisions you make about things like text alignment and font size and style can have a big impact on how accessible your thesis is. Below are some general guidelines to follow as you think through questions of text layout.

Text Alignment

For languages that read left to right, left-justified text is best for ease of reading. Although justified text, which aligns text to both the left and right margins, may seem like the best choice because of its clean edges, this is not the case. To achieve a consistent left and right margin, justified text must include extra spaces between words. This can create rivers of white, or patterns of whitespace that can distract the reader and make text difficult to read. Therefore, use left-justified text.

Space between Paragraphs

Whitespace between paragraphs can also help make your text easier to read. The layout is cleaner, and the extra space helps focus the reader’s attention on how paragraphs are organized in relation to each other. It’s important to build in extra space through your paragraph settings instead of adding space manually. This is because adding space manually, through pressing Enter or Return, can make screen readers think they’ve reached the end of a document instead of just the end of a paragraph. To make sure there is space between paragraphs, go to Home > Paragraph > Indents and Spacing > Spacing. Then, make sure After is set at 8 or 12 pt.

Font Size

Make sure to choose a font size that is easily readable. Our formatting requirements, for example, call for using 12-pt. for thesis text. Also make sure your text can be resized up to 200% size without losing legibility. This is so readers with mild visual disabilities can read your work without assistive technology.

Font Style

Although there is no consensus on the best, most readable, font style, WebAIM provides some basic guidelines you can follow when choosing which font style to use. For example, stick with fonts that are simple and clear. Limit your use of different fonts styles, and make sure there is sufficient contrast between your font and its background. With longer sections of text, limit your use of italics, boldface, and fully capitalized text, as all three can be difficult to read.