WILMINGTON, Del. — August 6, 2020 — UserWay.org, creator of advanced website accessibility technologies, has today released a new font to support web users with dyslexia. The new UserWay Dyslexia-Friendly Font (UDF) is the result of a collaboration between the UserWay team, font experts and the dyslexia community. It was created to ensure that website visitors with dyslexia can read and absorb information by providing them with a font tailored to improve their reading experience.
The new font is included at no additional cost in UserWay’s free and paid Accessibility Widgets, an advanced AI-based compliance-as-a-service technology that ensures brands provide an accessible digital experience that meets strict governmental and ADA regulations.
“Listening to the community and understanding which tools they need are at the heart of our work,” said Alexa Huth, UserWay Content Advisor. “As a visually impaired person, I know that nuanced digital barriers exist for each disability. UserWay is here to knock those barriers down, and UDF is just the latest example of that.”
An innovative option for easier reading
Instead of requiring websites to install a dyslexia-friendly font across all pages for all users, UserWay’s Accessibility Widget makes the font optional. Users with dyslexia can enable UDF, and the preferences will be remembered on the site for that user’s future visits.
To make it easier for dyslexic website visitors to navigate a site, UDF:
- Makes similar-looking letters easier to distinguish.
- Increases the baseline and thins the top of characters for a less symmetric and more readable typeface.
- Supports all languages based on the Latin, Roman and Cyrillic alphabets, including English, French, Spanish, Romanian, German, and Russian.
UDF will be automatically added to the hundreds-of-thousands of websites that already have UserWay’s Accessibility Widget, enhancing tens-of-millions of website pages. Sites that weren’t previously dyslexia-friendly now will be in just a single click. The font can be used in conjunction with other features on the widget, optimizing and customizing the experience for visitors.
Organizations and website owners that don’t already have UserWay’s Accessibility Widget can install it in a matter of minutes at UserWay.org.
“UDF was actually a community-sourced suggestion,” said UserWay founder and CEO Allon Mason. “We listen to our users and make sure we continually evolve to support their needs instead of just guessing which solutions will work or waiting for the perfect accessible internet to suddenly appear.”
Added Dr. Lionel Wolberger, UserWay Vice President of Business Development, “UserWay’s technology grows and changes with the internet. We are committed to helping people and organizations create more welcoming and inclusive websites—today and into the future.”
About UserWay
UserWay.org creates advanced website accessibility solutions that help ensure ADA compliance without refactoring a website’s existing code. With UserWay’s CaaS (Compliance as a Service) technology, you can effortlessly increase compliance with WCAG 2.1, ADA, ATAG 2.0, EN 301-549, and Section 508 regulations as required by US and international governmental and regulatory bodies. UserWay is led by a world-class team with decades of experience with complex accessibility protocols, delivery of large-scale systems, and innovation. UserWay’s engineers, entrepreneurs and visionaries are defining the future of digital accessibility for us all.
