Bridge
Explore

Also called: dyslexia, letters moving, reading fatigue

Reading & words

When words on a screen take more energy than they should.

For some people, reading is slow, tiring or unreliable. Letters may seem to swap, blur or move, lines can run together, and long words take real effort to decode. Many people with dyslexia describe this, and so do people who are tired, unwell or reading in another language.

Reading differently says nothing about how clever someone is. Many people who find text hard are quick thinkers, strong speakers and creative problem solvers.

A lot of the difficulty comes from how the web presents words: small text, tight lines, low contrast, justified paragraphs and dense jargon. Change the presentation, or switch from reading to listening, and the same content can become much easier.

See it for yourself

A short simulation. Then turn on the fix and notice the difference.

Simulation

The same paragraph, with the letters inside some words shuffling: Bridge helps people use the web in the way that works for them. Some people find long pages tiring, some miss spoken words in videos, and some cannot use a mouse for long. When a website is designed with care, these barriers get much smaller for everyone.

A common way to illustrate the effort some readers describe. Dyslexia is different for everyone and isn't about intelligence.

What gets in the way online

  • Small, tightly spaced text with long lines
  • Justified text that creates uneven gaps between words
  • Low contrast, or very bright white backgrounds
  • Jargon, long sentences and no headings to break things up
  • Forms and timed tests that leave no time to reread

What helps

  • Having text read aloud with the words highlighted as they are spoken
  • Bigger text, wider line spacing and shorter line lengths
  • Clear fonts and softer background colours, chosen by the reader
  • Reader views that strip away clutter and let you change the layout
  • A reading ruler that highlights one line at a time
  • Plain language, headings and short summaries at the top

Tools that help

Learn more

Every course for Reading & words