There’s nothing worse than a boring wall of text. We all understand how much pictures, diagrams and graphs can help people to understand our information. However, every website in the world uses text of some form to communicate.
So, how do we make this text content engaging, easy-to-read and easy-to-understand? There are a few ways we can utilise text formatting to command your user’s attention to the important parts.
Headings
Headings allow you to easily break up your content into relevant sections, which you can then expand on. They are also perfect for users who skim the text looking for certain information.
Depending on your website system, you should be able to choose different sized headings from “Heading 1” to “Heading 6”. Heading 1 is the biggest and marks the text as “most important“, with Headings 2-6 becoming smaller and less important as they go on.
Bullet Points
Bullet points allow you to make multiple options really stand apart from each other clearly. They make long or complicated pieces of text easier to understand because they break the text down.
For example, take the following sentence, which version do you find the items quicker and easier to read?
I went walking with my friend we had a picnic of:
- cheese sandwiches
- jam-filled pastries
- green apples
- banana cake
- earl grey tea.
Numbered Lists
Numbered lists are ideal when there’s an important order to the information that you need to get across. This could be a set of paragraphs in step-by-step instructions, or it could be a timeline of important events. For example, consider the following bit of text:
Ordering with us is easy:
- Choose your venue
- Choose your time
- Book your table online
- Enjoy your food
Use bold for strong emphasis.
Bold text helps to lead the eye; use it to strongly emphasise parts of your text you wish to stand out. Try to do this instead of using strings of capital letters – capitals could be considered as using a shouting or yelling voice.
Make use of different colours
If all of the text on your website is the same colour, perhaps consider using a different colours for your headings or hyperlinks within your text. This can really help give your text some contrast and it really breaks things up visually.
However, be careful with your colour choices and don’t choose more than two different ones. Too many colours will turn your page chaotic, making it hard to follow.
If you already have established brand colours then these are probably a good starting point. Always be sure to check how easy-to-read the text is after you change the colour, sometimes there won’t be enough contrast and black can be best!
Get help with your website today
If you need help with reorganizing your website, or coming up with a fresh redesign, don’t delay. Please call today on 01646 682676 to arrange an appointment with one of our website design experts. Or send a message by following this link.
