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Discussion on: 11 Golden Rules for A11Y

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Ashley Sheridan

Some disabilities can make it difficult for people to understand complicated content or terms. Also, by simplifying content, you make it more accessible to those who aren't native speakers of that languages.

There is something called a Flesch-Kinkaid test which can be run on text content (that specific test is aimed at the rules of the English language, but other language variants do exist) which can give you an estimated reading age of the content. The average reading age varies from country to country, but in the US, for example, the average is about 12 years. If your content is overly complex, it could shut out a large audience.

Obviously, not all content can be simplified to be available to all people. Some subject matters are just complicated by their nature, and you need to use more complicated terms and phrasing to adequetly cover the topic.