Summary

Presenting a “wall of text” in a document or website can discourage reading. Instead, present key concepts as lists where possible.

Impact

Lists help users comprehend text more quickly. Writers can use them to reduce reader fatigue resulting from trying to comprehend dense or complex paragraphs. Lists can provide a break in the document flow and encourage users to stick with the content.

Example

Presenting a “wall of text” in a document or Web site can discourage reading and prevent understanding, much like the meaningless lorem ipsum dummy text below:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Eros in cursus turpis massa tincidunt dui. Sed id semper risus in hendrerit gravida rutrum. Accumsan lacus vel facilisis volutpat est velit egestas dui id. Aliquam malesuada bibendum arcu vitae elementum curabitur vitae nunc. Nulla pellentesque dignissim enim sit amet venenatis urna cursus eget. Elit at imperdiet dui accumsan sit amet nulla facilisi morbi. 

Dos and Don'ts

Do: Use lists to:

  • Present key terms and concepts
  • Organize information into meaningful chunks
  • Convey sequencing necessary for processes and procedures
  • Create links to additional information

Write parallel list items that have the same structure.

Example

  • List item 1
  • List item 2
  • List item 3

Don't use list formatting

Don't use list formatting just to draw attention to an item. Lists should always contain list items. 

Don't format unlike items as a list unless you rewrite them so they have the same structure.

Example

- List item

- List item

- List item

If you don't format your lists correctly, adaptive technology users won't be able to identify the text as a list.

Do: Use the list or paragraph formatting

Use the list or paragraph formatting options in your document or presentation software or HTML list tags on a webpage.

Use a bulleted list to show a list of related items.

Use a numbered list to show steps in a process or the number of parts in a whole.

Add space between each list item using the paragraph formatting tools in your software or CSS on a webpage. 

Example

  1. Select the text you want to present as a list.
  2. Select one of the list icons in the formatting menu.
  3. Select Save.

Don't create lists manually

Don't create lists manually by simply inserting numbers, characters, images, or other symbols before list items and then indenting the item text. 

Don't add extra carriage returns after list items, because that will add unnecessary code to your document or webpage.

Example

  • Select the text you want to present as a list.

 

  • Select one of the list icons in the formatting menu.

 

  • Select Save.

Although screen readers can detect bulleted (unordered) lists, they do not usually distinguish levels of indentation.

Do Use an ordered list

Use an ordered list with a different numbering system in the secondary levels than in the primary levels to help users distinguish between them.

Try to structure your long lists into smaller lists separated by headings.

Examples:

  1. Take exit 6 and turn right on Washington Avenue.

  2. Drive 1.2 miles, until you arrive at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Union Street.

  3. Turn right on Union Street. There are several points of interest along this street:

    • On your left you'll see the old courthouse, built in 1792.

    • In front of the Court house you will see a statue of the town mascot .

    • On your left, you'll see Keys Cafe.

  4. When you get to the intersection of Union Street and 2nd Avenue, you'll see the big red brick building.

North America:

  • USA

  • Canada

  •  Mexico

South America:

  • Argentina

  • Bolivia

  • Brazil

  • Chile

  • Colombia

  • Ecuador

Don't nest lists

Don’t nest lists, if one is not needed. 

Don’t use the same bullet type in nested lists.

Avoid listing too many items in a long list.

Examples

  • Take exit 6 and turn right on Washington Avenue.

  • Drive 1.2 miles, until you arrive at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Union Street.

  • Turn right on Union Street. There are several points of interest along this street:

    • On your left you'll see the old courthouse, built in 1792.

    • In front of the Court house you will see a statue of the town mascot .

    • On your left, you'll see Keys Cafe.

  • When you get to the intersection of Union Street and 2nd Avenue, you'll see the big red brick building.

  • North America:

    • USA

    • Canada

    • Mexico

  • South America:

    • Argentina

    • Bolivia

    • Brazil

    • Chile

    • Colombia

    • Ecuador

Replacing the generic bullet characters provided by MS Office and Google Suite products (e.g., circles and squares) with custom characters could result in an image being included without alt text or in a screen reader interpreting a character by its ASCII value. 

On websites, you can replace standard bullets with custom images using CSS. However, the bullet will be read by a screen reader as if it were unstyled.

Do Use the standard bullets

Use the standard bullets provided by your software's list or paragraph formatting options.

Example

  1. Item 1
  2. Item 2
  3. Item 3

Don't use custom bullets

Don’t use custom bullets as they are announced to screen reader users with unidentified names.

Example

► Item 1

► Item 2

► Item 3