list punctuation - copyedit and consistency edit

[shawna-slh]

Suggestion: Decide on list formats, and edit for consistency.

WAI Style Guide, Lists currently says:

No punctuation after bullet/list items that are not complete sentences. (except in very formal documents) Especially no semi-colons at the end of list items except in very rare cases in formal documents. If complete sentences, then end with periods. Otherwise, no punctuation.

Note that the Style Guide supports different punctuation for different types of lists:

• list items that are single words or simple phrases = no punctuation at the end
• list items that are full sentences = regular punctuation

Some simple lists in the current document has sentence punctuation and "and" such as this:

The Objectives and Patterns build on the:

• Cognitive Accessibility User Research,
• Cognitive Accessibility Issue Papers, and
• Cognitive Accessibility Gap Analysis and Roadmap.

The style guide suggests no punctuation for this type of list:

The Objectives and Patterns build on the:

• Cognitive Accessibility User Research
• Cognitive Accessibility Issue Papers
• Cognitive Accessibility Gap Analysis and Roadmap

EOWG thinks this is generally easier to process, and nicer visually. Yet, we don't yet have much data on that. We very much welcome input to support or refute that, including research and personal perspectives.

(Also, we could make the sSyle Guide more clear. :-)

[rainbreaw]

While I generally agree with everything above, I suggest we double check how text to speech tools read list items without punctuation at the end. I've seen guidance to include at least a comma at the end of each list item in order to ensure that there is an appropriate pause for text to speech tools used to support aural reading for individuals with reading disabilities.

[rachaelbradley]

We made changes so lists are consistent. (email sent 10 March 2021).