[Feature-Name]: Dyslexia Font style options

[AdamOye]

Describe the problem

Problem: Users with Dyslexia have trouble reading content. Certain font styles assist in spacing which makes it easier to read for dyslexic people.

Who will benefit

This could be a veteran facing option and an internal teams option as we may not know who is vocal about their Dyslexia. Persisting with and comprehending longer reading assignments/ material are some of the difficulties Dyslexic people face.

Describe your idea

Alternative fonts include Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri, Open Sans. Font size should be 12-14 point or equivalent (e.g. 1-1.2em / 16-19 px). Some dyslexic readers may request a larger font.

Provide evidence

Some research states more than 40 million US adults have dyslexia, with only 2 million of them receiving a diagnosis.

Platform Mission

• [ ] Keeps these products and services available, stable, and secure.
• [X] Ensures they are consistent and meet high standards of quality in Veteran-centered user experience and technical approach.
• [ ] Provides shared tools, software, support, and technical infrastructure to accelerate their development.
• [ ] Other

Other:

No response

[briandeconinck]

Per @shiragoodman's request, some quick accessibility notes. No specific recommendation made here.

• There's not a ton of good research on dyslexia and typography, with the caveat that there's certainly evidence that font choice can impact reading performance for people with dyslexia. That study speaks to the relative performance of several font families, but doesn't directly address Source Sans Pro, the main font used on VA.gov, or provide repeatable guidelines on how to avoid issues with other typefaces.
• The fonts recommended by @AdamOye are consistent with recommendations from the British Dyslexia Association, which is the most common reference I'm finding on this.
• The go-to resource I'm getting from other accessibility folks is Gareth Ford Williams' A Guide to Understanding What Makes a Typeface Accessible. He includes eight guidelines, and from my cursory review Source Sans Pro passes some but doesn't pass/is questionable with others. (Note that on a very superficial review I think some of the BDA recommended fonts also run into issues on these tests.)
• However, the font families in use on VA.gov are consistent with the typography guidelines in USWDS v3. Given that we're generally trying to better align and contribute back to USWDS, there's probably a conversation to be had with them around:
  • How they selected these typefaces
  • Assessing those typefaces against Williams' guidelines (more rigorously than my quick review)
  • If / what kind of testing went into those decisions
  • Opportunities for testing by a VFS team to contribute back to USWDS

[gopixelsgo]

Hi @briandeconinck - it sounds like there are some potential next steps here. Did anything else come of this? If so, would you mind adding an update and moving this ticket to the "Reviewed" column? Thanks!

CC: @humancompanion-usds

[humancompanion-usds]

I second @briandeconinck's notion that we should talk to USWDS about this in our a11y meetings with them. That's a fine place to start.

In the meantime, we could do an analysis of Public Sans (from USWDS ) and Open Sans (one of the alternatives mentioned above, that is also offered via USWDS) to determine if they are "close enough" or not. I highly doubt that USWDS is going to move away from Public Sans as the default any time soon. But if we can prove that Open Sans is superior for some reason then that one is an option they offer and that we could move to.

FWIW, we are bumping up the base font size from 16px to the normalized Source Sans Pro of 16.96px.

[shiragoodman]

@humancompanion-usds this sounds like a task better suited for the Design System team than Governance team. I will put this on our agenda for tomorrow so we can discuss and pull in @caw310 if needed.

[tayism]

Hello @shiragoodman, looks like this has been moving along. Any updates as of late? Thanks!

[shiragoodman]

@tayism I did talk to my PO @humancompanion-usds about this and he agrees that it is an issue for the Design System Team. cc @caw310

[tayism]

@shiragoodman @caw310 Sounds good, and thanks! We appreciate the updates. SDT recently revamped the 'monitoring/cleaning' of the Feature Request Board, which helps ensure things are moving along (when/if they can).

[gopixelsgo]

Hi @shiragoodman and @caw310 - checking to see if there's any update we can add here. Thanks!

[caw310]

This is in our backlog. We are working on USWDS upgrade and global changes for the next two or so months. We will be looking to pull in work from our backlog after we are done with the upgrade.

[gopixelsgo]

Great, thanks @caw310!

[gopixelsgo]

Hi @caw310 - I know your team has been working through the upgrade, and it might be too soon to ask, but just checking if there was any update on this item. Thanks!

[caw310]

@gopixelsgo No update. We are still finishing upgrade work and other priorities.