How to Format Your Text to Help Your Readers

A presentation at WordCamp Montreal 2018 in August 2018 in Montreal, QC, Canada by Francesca Marano

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How To Format Your Text to Help Your Readers Francesca Marano - @FrancescaMarano

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CIAO! SONO FRANCESCA WordPress Community Team Ex freelancer that built websites for freelancers WordPress Community Manager

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CONTENT IS KING @FrancescaMarano

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A BIT OF HISTORY March 12, 1989 - Sir Tim Berners-Lee writes a proposal for a distributed information system In 1993 he publishes the first specs for HTML tags November 24, 1995 - HTML 2.0 specs are published as a standard for all future implementations @FrancescaMarano

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A BIT OF HISTORY October 1, 1997 - Jakob Nielsen publishes the article “How Users Read on the Web” @FrancescaMarano

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Summary: They don't. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. Jakob Nielsen @FrancescaMarano

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HTML 101 @FrancescaMarano

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WHAT IS HTML HyperText Markup Language Defines the elements in a page semantically Elements are defined by English words or their abbreviations <Opening tag> Content </Closing tag> @FrancescaMarano

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USEFUL HTML TAGS FOR WRITERS Paragraphs <p> Content </p> Blockquotes <blockquote> Content </blockquote> Ordered lists <ol> List Items <li> Content </li> </ol> Unordered lists <ul> List Items <li> Content </li> </ul> List items <li> Content </li> @FrancescaMarano

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THE HEADING ELEMENT <h1>Headline 1</h1> (Nope) <h2>Headline 2</h2> <h3>Headline 3</h3> <h4>Headline 4</h4> <h5>Headline 5</h5> <h6>Headline 6</h6>

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ACCESSIBILITY 101 HELP ALL THE READERS @FrancescaMarano

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FORMATTING IN WORDPRESS @FrancescaMarano

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DIFFERENT WAYS TO FORMAT Editor (UI) Gutenberg (UI) HTML @FrancescaMarano

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GUTENBERG

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PARAGRAPH SELECTOR @FrancescaMarano

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<h1>Headline 1</h1> (Nope) <h2>Headline 2</h2> <h3>Headline 3</h3> <h4>Headline 4</h4> <h5>Headline 5</h5> <h6>Headline 6</h6> @FrancescaMarano

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<pre>This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts in order to share with your readers what is on your mind.</pre> <p>This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts in order to share with your readers what is on your mind.</p> @FrancescaMarano

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BOLD AND ITALIC @FrancescaMarano

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@FrancescaMarano

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<strong>Bold</strong> <em>Italic</em> @FrancescaMarano

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LISTS @FrancescaMarano

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<ol> <ul> <li>Ordered List Item #1</li> <li>Unordered List Item #1</li> <li>Ordered List Item #2</li> <li>Unordered List Item #2</li> <li>Ordered List Item #3</li> <li>Unordered List Item #3</li> </ol> </ul> @FrancescaMarano

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BLOCKQUOTE @FrancescaMarano

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@FrancescaMarano

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<blockquote> This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts in order to share with your readers what is on your mind. <cite>Author</cite> </blockquote> @FrancescaMarano

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ALIGNMENT @FrancescaMarano

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STRIKETHROUGH @FrancescaMarano

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TEXT COLOR @FrancescaMarano

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COMMON ANNOYANCES @FrancescaMarano

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NESTED ELEMENTS @FrancescaMarano

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PARAGRAPH VS NEW LINE @FrancescaMarano

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GET ME OUT OF THIS LIST @FrancescaMarano

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LINKAPALOOZA @FrancescaMarano

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Tim Berners-Lee proposal: https://www.w3.org/History/ 1989/proposal.html Tim Berners-Lee HTML specs: https://www.w3.org/ History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/ Tags.html Jakob Nielsen “How Users Read On The Web“: https:// www.nngroup.com/articles/how-users-read-on-theweb/ Jakob Nielsen “F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content”: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shapedpattern-reading-web-content/ @FrancescaMarano

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Accessibility Resources: http://a11yproject.com/ resources.html Rian Rietveld “HTML5 Headings in WordPress: A11y versus SEO?”: https://blog.rrwd.nl/2014/11/21/html5headings-in-wordpress-lets-fight/ Adrian Roselli “Typefaces for dislexia”: http:// adrianroselli.com/2015/03/typefaces-for-dyslexia.html Sami Keijonen “Writing Accessible Content”: https:// foxland.fi/writing-accessible-content/ @FrancescaMarano

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Trac Ticket #27159 “Removing TinyMCE buttons to improve user experience”: https:// core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/27159 Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit: https:// www.microsoft.com/en-us/design/inclusive Bulleted and numbered lists https://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/ lists.html Mark Root-Wiley “No Justification: Don’t Use Right, Center, and Full Justification on the Web”: https:// mrwweb.com/no-justification-dont-use-right-centerand-full-justification-on-the-web/ @FrancescaMarano

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QUESTIONS? @FrancescaMarano