Wondering how to make your blog more accessible to your readers?
Check out this post to learn about the Tips To Make Your Blog More Accessible For Readers.
- 25 Tips To Make Your Blog More Accessible For Readers
- Large Fonts
- Good Design
- Follow KISS
- Dark Text On Light Background
- Long Blogrolls
- Long Sidebars
- De-Clutter Sidebar
- Add Images To Articles
- Never, Ever Use Animations
- Make Your Blog Fast
- Use “Click Here”
- Use Constant Link Color
- Make Links Underline
- Make Links Underline On Hover
- Optimize your WordPress site
- Avoid Auto Plays
- Add A Text To Speech Converter
- Make the Content Column Wider
- Make Search Easier
- Make Navigation Easier
- Make Subscription Links Visible
- Get Rid Of Captchas
- Get A Favicon
- Test In Different Browsers
- Use Contact Forms
25 Tips To Make Your Blog More Accessible For Readers
Large Fonts
Large fonts make it possible to read posts easily. You should not make it very big, anywhere between 12 and 14 points are fine.
Good Design
Good design is something you should focus on everything else. Nothing can be better than a well-designed blog where the content gets attention.
Follow KISS
KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. Do not make the design complex, simple is better!
Dark Text On Light Background
Reading dark text on a lighter background is much easier and when selecting a theme for your blog, make sure it has dark text that’s readable in the background.
Long Blogrolls
OK, blogrolls are great, they help you share your favorite blogs with readers, right? But there’s no use in a blog roll with 30 links! Most people will find it, well long! So, keep it short.
Long Sidebars
I won’t say a word, you know how you feel when you see a long sidebar cluttered with all kinds of ads and links!
De-Clutter Sidebar
Clutter is irritating. Nothing can be more irritating than a sidebar that is cluttered with widgets, ads, etc. Identify what’s important to you and keep only the best widgets.
Add Images To Articles
Images make articles look better and also attract focus on important points.
Never, Ever Use Animations
Animations do only one thing well, distracting readers! Avoid animations inside articles.
Make Your Blog Fast
There’s no point in doing anything if your blog takes forever to load!
Check out: 13 Killer Tips To Speed Up WordPress Site Easily
Use “Click Here”
With every other blog having a different design, there’s one thing that becomes a problem, finding links!
In the good old days, we had blue links and even most computer-un-savvy people could use them. So, if you have anything important to link to, try using “Click Here”.
Use Constant Link Color
Do not make every link a different color. It is best to have a constant link color across the website.
Make Links Underline
Making links underlined will help to get attention to them.
Make Links Underline On Hover
Yes, it may seem odd to have links underlined. And if you also think so, why not make them underline on hover? That would also be a nice effect! To do this, simply add this line to the end of your style.css file in WordPress: a: hover { text-decoration: underline; }
Optimize your WordPress site
Everyone owns the site which loads faster. Even Google loves only a fast-loading site.
Avoid Auto Plays
Auto-playing music is nothing but an annoyance. And videos, are even more. Most importantly, they take up a lot of bandwidth which may cause visitors to slow connections to move away.
Add A Text To Speech Converter
An automatic text-to-speech converter can help a lot of people who might have difficulty reading your posts.
Make the Content Column Wider
Anything more than 3 columns is overkill. And if you are going to get a magazine theme, it is best to make it simple and non-puzzling!
Make Search Easier
Do not forget to place a “search” widget in your sidebar. Even if you are using Apture, a search widget is helpful as many people won’t know how to use it!
Make Navigation Easier
Make sure that your old posts and other important info are easy to find. As Daniel Scocco says, “Every post of your blog should be no more than one click away”.
Make Subscription Links Visible
When people want to subscribe, they will look for easy methods to subscribe. Ensure that you have “Subscribe” links on every page and they are visible too!
Get Rid Of Captchas
Captchas are very annoying! Sometimes, the text is very hard to read and this may irritate the readers.
Yes, I know you may get comment spam but there are better ways to fight comment spam without affecting the user experience!
Get A Favicon
A favicon helps readers to find your blog in a big cluster of tabs. So, get 10 minutes and make a favicon for your blog.
Test In Different Browsers
I have learned this the hard way. What looks awesome in my Opera browser is often horrible in Internet Explorer and when dealing with clients, this is very irritating!
(Nothing can annoy more than a “Design does not look good” for a client using Internet Explorer 10!) It is best to test the design in different browsers.
Use Contact Forms
Yes, I know that email privacy is important but putting a simple image of your email address is not very user-friendly!
Please add a contact form to give people a less annoying(wait, it’s not annoying at all!) way to contact you!
Final Words
That’s all about the tips to make your blog more accessible.
Using these tips, you can easily make your blog more user-friendly.
It’s not necessary to use all of these but those which are necessary for your reader base should be added as soon as possible!
What other tips do you have to make your blog more accessible? Do not forget to share in the comments.
