[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #47327: Avoid italic text for better accessibility and readability

[WordPress Trac]

#47327: Avoid italic text for better accessibility and readability
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 Reporter:  afercia       |      Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  General       |    Version:
 Severity:  normal        |   Keywords:
  Focuses:                |
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 Follow up to an ongoing discussion on the Gutenberg GitHub repository, see
 https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/15683.

 There are many different forms of dyslexia and different people are
 affected to varying degrees. When it comes to forms of dyslexia related to
 visual processing, not all the reading disorders are triggered by the same
 causes.

 This is really a field where there are no "truths" about what is good or
 bad. Even specialized studies disagree, but there's general consensus that
 the font used and its metrics have an impact on some reading disorders.

 While the ideal solution would be allowing a complete customization of the
 font, a simple step to help users is to avoid italic text.

 == Does this means italics needs to be banned?

 No, it doesn't. Italics needs to be avoided on whole sentences or large
 blocks of text. A judicious use of italics, bold, and other font variants
 to highlight important parts of a sentence can even help dyslexic users.

 == Better readability for all users

 Use of italic text in WordPress has some historical reasons. Years ago,
 there was no great awareness of accessibility issues related to font
 styles. Also, computer screens were 14 or 15 inches: the rendered text was
 bigger and more readable. On modern displays, the average rendered text
 size is smaller than in the past. Smaller size and italic style makes text
 difficult to read for many users.

 Besides users with dyslexia, avoiding italic helps also users with low
 vision, even the ones with moderate low vision or reading issues related
 to ageing. A bigger default font size in the admin pages would also
 definitely help. This should be evaluated holistically because of the
 global changes it would introduce and deserves to be discussed separately.

 == Proposal

 In the WordPress admin, italic text is typically used for descriptions and
 help text. Sometimes also for other elements, for example:
 - labels in the Quick Edit and Bulk Edit forms: this is also inconsistent
 with labels styling across the admin
 - error details text in the new Recover Mode functionality

 For all these cases, I'd like to propose to remove the italic style.

 == Future

 As noted on https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/15683 and
 https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/15469, a better typographic
 system should establish clear hierarchy by other means: spacing, font
 size, font weight, etc.

 Discussion is ongoing, and any contribution is very welcome.

 == References:

 The WCAG 2.0 used to explicitly recommend avoiding italic text (couldn't
 find this specific point in WCAG 2.1)

 **Understanding Guideline 3.1: Make text content readable and
 understandable**
 https://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/meaning.html
 > Avoiding chunks of italic text


 **Webaim recommendations for cognitive impairments and readability**
 https://webaim.org/articles/evaluatingcognitive/#readability
 > Use stylistic differences to highlight important content, but do so
 conservatively
 > Use various stylistic elements (italics, bold, color, brief animation,
 or differently-styled content) to highlight important content. Overuse can
 result in the loss of differentiation. Do not use italics or bold on long
 sections of text. Avoid ALL CAPS.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/47327>
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