All Supplemental Guidance to WCAG

Design Patterns for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities

These Design Patterns provide practical guidance on how to better meet the accessibility requirements of people with cognitive and learning disabilities.

The Patterns are organised into the following “Objectives”:

Help Users Understand What Things are and How to Use Them
• Make the Purpose of Your Page Clear
• Use a Familiar Hierarchy and Design
• Use a Consistent Visual Design
• Make Each Step Clear
• Clearly Identify Controls and Their Use
• Make the Relationship Clear Between Controls and the Content They Affect
• Use Icons that Help the User
Help Users Find What They Need
• Make it Easy to Find the Most Important Tasks and Features
• Make the Site Hierarchy Easy to Understand and Navigate
• Use a Clear and Understandable Page Structure
• Make it easy to find the most important actions and information on the page
• Break Media into Chunks
• Provide Search
Use Clear and Understandable Content
• Use Clear Words
• Use a Simple Tense and Voice
• Avoid Double Negatives or Nested Clauses
• Use Literal Language
• Keep Text Succinct
• Use Clear, Unambiguous Formatting and Punctuation
• Include Symbols and Letters Necessary to Decipher the Words
• Provide Summary of Long Documents and Media
• Separate Each Instruction
• Use White Spacing
• Ensure Foreground Content is not Obscured by Background
• Explain Implied Content
• Provide Alternatives for Numerical Concepts
Help Users Avoid Mistakes and Know How to Correct Them
• Ensure Controls and Content Do Not Move Unexpectedly
• Let Users Go Back
• Notify Users of Fees and Charges at the Start of a Task
• Design Forms to Prevent Mistakes
• Make it Easy to Undo Form Errors
• Use Clear Visible Labels
• Use Clear Step-by-step Instructions
• Accept different input formats
• Avoid Data Loss and “Timeouts”
• Provide Feedback
• Help the user stay safe
• Use Familiar Metrics and Units
Help Users Focus
• Limit Interruptions
• Make Short Critical Paths
• Avoid Too Much Content
• Provide Information So a User Can Complete and Prepare for a Task
Ensure Processes Do Not Rely on Memory
• Provide a Login that Does Not Rely on Memory or Other Cognitive Skills
• Allow the User a Simple, Single Step, Login
• Provide a Login Alternative with Less Words
• Let Users Avoid Navigating Voice Menus
• Do Not Rely on Users Calculations or Memorizing Information
Provide Help and Support
• Provide Human Help
• Provide Alternative Content for Complex Information and Tasks
• Clearly State the Results and Disadvantages of Actions, Options, and Selections
• Provide Help for Forms and Non-standard Controls
• Make It Easy to Find Help and Give Feedback
• Provide Help with Directions
• Provide Reminders
Support Adaptation and Personalization
• Let Users Control When the Content Moves or Changes
• Enable APIs and Extensions
• Support Simplification
• Support a Personalized and Familiar Interface