Designing Reader-Friendly Content for Spanish Speakers

“We want our documents to help the audience get information, comply with requirements, and apply for benefits with the minimum possible burden.” - Federal Plain Language Guidelines (PDF Report - page 94)

Optimizing For Readability

Optimizing for readability is important for effectively engaging all audiences, especially considering that an estimated 50% or more of users now interact with content on mobile devices. It can also be particularly beneficial for people whose primary language is other than English for a few key reasons:

• Cognitive load: Reading in a second language has higher cognitive demand. Well-formatted, scannable content reduces the processing load. Use headers, lists, and other formatting techniques.

• Visual aids: Supplementing text with images, charts, diagrams, etc. provides additional context to help users quickly understand what documents they need to provide or what action they need to take. Include relevant photos, graphics, or illustrations.

• Consistency: A clear, logical structure and organization help users anticipate content flow. Use a consistent format and organization.

Guidance For Content Structure

Use visual hierarchy, white space, and lists to draw attention to key information and break up dense text, making it more scannable for Spanish readers.

Highlight information by:

• Enclosing text in a box

• Changing type size, weight, or font

• Using bulleted or numbered lists

Additionally, structure content following the inverted pyramid style:

• What happened (what)

• Who was involved (who)

• Where it took place (where)

• When it happened (when)

• Why it happened (why)

• How it happened (how)

For best practices on designing UI claimant communications, see this Unemployment Insurance Email Template Kit, created by the New Jersey Office of Innovation and Semicolon Design Group.

Using Images Effectively

Images can simplify complex ideas, make content more engaging, and serve as helpful visual aids. By addressing both accessibility and optimization, you can ensure images are effective for all readers.

Accessibility

• Provide descriptive alt text to convey the purpose and context of each image. This makes content accessible for those using screen readers or slow connections.

• Focus alt text on describing the meaningful context of the image, rather than just decorative details. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines recommend alt text should serve an "equivalent purpose" as the image itself.

Optimization

• Compress image file sizes to optimize for fast loading. This improves the user experience for mobile users or those with slow connections.

For more guidance, see the W3C's guidelines on “non-text content” and tutorial on optimizing images for the web.

Date Formatting In Spanish

Dates can be a source of confusion in English-to-Spanish contexts due to different date formatting conventions. In English, dates are typically written in MM/DD/YYYY format. However, in Spanish, the more common format is DD/MM/YYYY.

To prevent users from entering incorrect dates in form fields, use these UX best practices:

• Include clear labels alongside date input fields to specify the desired day, month, and year format. This helps users enter dates accurately.

• Display dates in unambiguous ways like spelling out months and adding labels for day, month, year. For example, "August 8, 2022" or “8 August 2022” rather than "08/08/2022".

• Use a calendar picker that allows dates to be selected visually rather than typed in. This reduces errors from typing dates in the wrong format.

• Where date fields cannot be calendar pickers, accept a wide range of date formats and validate the entry. Provide clear error messaging if the wrong format is used.