Plain language

Why use plain language

Only 16% of New Zealand adults are considered to have high literacy levels. People may also:

• be unfamiliar with the subject matter and related jargon
• have poor computer skills.

Simple words make:

• sentences easier to scan
• content more accessible to a wider range of people, including people whose first language is not English.

Guidelines

The Readability Guidelines include detailed guidelines on the following topics:

• Choose easy and short words not formal, long ones.
• Jargon and buzzwords are unlikely to be clear language.
• Write conversationally, in first person, using the active voice.
• Test your content with users.

And:

• Make your average sentence 15 words long.
• Avoid complex sentence structures.

Tools

Readability testing tools