---
title: "Write so that people who find reading hard · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading/plain-language
id: AXS-72
level: Recommended
updated: 2026-10-27
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 998
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Write so that people who find reading hard can follow

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Seeing and reading](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-27.

- ID: AXS-72
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Seeing and reading](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading.md)
- Rule: Write the text of sign-up, checkout, error messages and help pages in plain language. Keep sentences under 25 words, explain every technical term on first use, and keep each step to one task.
- Check: A build test reads the visible text of the sign-up, checkout and help pages and every error message. No sentence has more than 25 words, and each page scores at most grade 9 on a readability formula, such as Flesch-Kincaid.
- How: People with dyslexia, memory loss, attention disorders or a brain injury read more slowly and lose the thread in long sentences. The W3C note on cognitive accessibility asks for clear words, short blocks of text and predictable steps. Lead with what the person must do, then why. Use the words your customers use, and the same word for the same thing everywhere, as [Keep navigation in the same order](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/structure-and-names/consistent-navigation.md) asks of controls. Show where people are in a long process, such as "Step 2 of 4". Put a worked example next to any field with a format. Most of this goes beyond WCAG AA, but WCAG 3.1.5 (AAA) asks for text no harder than lower secondary school. Errors still follow [Explain form errors next to the field](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/forms-changes-and-time/form-errors.md).

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### JavaScript example

```js
const MAX_WORDS = 25;
const sentences = text => text.split(/(?<=[.!?])\s+/).filter(Boolean);
const tooLong = text => sentences(text).filter(s => s.split(/\s+/).length > MAX_WORDS);

for (const page of ['/signup', '/checkout', '/help']) {
  await browser.goto(`https://example.com${page}`);
  expect(tooLong(await browser.locator('main').innerText())).toEqual([]);
}
```

### Python example

```python
MAX_WORDS = 25

def too_long(text: str) -> list[str]:
    sentences = re.split(r"(?<=[.!?])\s+", text)
    return [s for s in sentences if len(s.split()) > MAX_WORDS]

for path in ["/signup", "/checkout", "/help"]:
    page.goto(f"https://example.com{path}")
    assert too_long(page.locator("main").inner_text()) == []
```

## Sources

- [W3C – Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities](https://www.w3.org/TR/coga-usable/)
- [WCAG 2.2 – 3.1.5 Reading Level](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/#reading-level)

## Related rules

- AXS-23 [Keep navigation in the same order](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/structure-and-names/consistent-navigation.md) in Accessibility
- AXS-28 [Explain form errors next to the field](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/forms-changes-and-time/form-errors.md) in Accessibility

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading/plain-language">Agent Wranglers accessibility playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Give instructions that work without seeing the page](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading/sensory-characteristics.md)
- [Seeing and reading](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accessibility/seeing-and-reading.md)