What makes text easier for dyslexic readers?

Research from the British Dyslexia Association points to generous spacing between letters, words, and lines, a slightly larger font, left-aligned (not justified) text, and a gentle off-white or tinted background rather than stark black-on-white. This tool lets you tune each of those.

Why not use a special dyslexia font?

Studies are mixed on whether specialised fonts outperform clean sans-serif fonts with good spacing. Because this tool only uses fonts already on your device, it focuses on the spacing and colour adjustments, which the evidence supports most strongly.

Why tinted backgrounds?

Many dyslexic and visually-sensitive readers report less glare and easier tracking on a cream, beige, or pale blue-grey background than on pure white. The tool offers a few tints so you can see the difference on your own copy.

What spacing values should I aim for?

The BDA style guide suggests letter spacing of about 0.05em or more, word spacing of about 0.16em, and line height of at least 1.5. The sliders start near these values so you can adjust up or down from a sensible baseline.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. The preview is rendered entirely in your browser using fonts already installed on your device. Your text never leaves the page.

Dyslexia-Friendly Text Preview

The Dyslexia-Friendly Text Preview lets you see your own copy through the lens of the typographic adjustments that help many dyslexic and visually-sensitive readers. Instead of guessing, you tune spacing, size, and background tint with live sliders and judge readability directly.

How it works

The tool renders your pasted text in a preview pane and exposes the adjustments the British Dyslexia Association style guide recommends, applied as live CSS:

Letter spacing (letter-spacing) — extra space between characters reduces crowding.
Word spacing (word-spacing) — clearer word boundaries aid tracking.
Line height (line-height) — at least 1.5 keeps lines from running together.
Font size — a slightly larger size is easier to follow.
Background tint — off-white, beige, or pale blue-grey to cut glare.

Text is always left-aligned (never justified), because justification creates uneven rivers of white space that disrupt reading. A clean sans-serif stack from fonts already on your device is used, so nothing is downloaded.

Why spacing over a special font

Evidence on dedicated dyslexia fonts is mixed, but evidence on spacing and contrast is consistent: more space between letters, words, and lines measurably improves reading for dyslexic readers. This tool therefore puts those controls front and centre.

Tips

Start from the defaults (letter spacing ~0.05em, word spacing ~0.16em, line height 1.6) and adjust to taste.
Prefer a cream or pale blue-grey background over pure white for long passages.
Keep lines from getting too long; shorter measures are easier to track. Adjust the preview width by resizing your window.