Set body text in normal sentence case, aligned left, in one dark colour; keep capitals for short labels; use one accent colour; and underline only links. Parents read the page as a sample of the teaching.

The site

A tutoring centre in a strip mall in a suburb, offering help with math, English and science from grade three to grade twelve, plus test preparation for older students.

Every heading on its website is in capitals. So is every paragraph: the welcome, the programs, the prices, the teachers' biographies.

The text is centred, line after line, in three colours: navy for headings, orange for anything important and a pale green for the rest.

Scattered through it are underlined phrases, FREE ASSESSMENT, SMALL GROUPS, CERTIFIED TEACHERS, that look like links and lead nowhere.

The inference a visitor makes

The person reading is usually a parent, often a worried one: a report card, a teacher's comment, a test next month. They are choosing someone to teach their child to read carefully and write clearly.

The page in front of them is hard to read and seems to shout. Some will conclude the centre is careless about detail; others that it is selling hard.

Neither need be true, and the teaching may be excellent. But the website is the first sample of the centre's communication a parent sees, and they judge the teaching by it.

Back-to-school enrolment starts within weeks, and parents comparing three centres on a phone in the evening tend to settle on the one that is easiest to read.

Five habits on one page

The first is the one parents notice before reading a word. A page set entirely in capitals looks loud at a glance, and it slows every sentence that follows.

Capitals are slow to read

Lowercase letters have shapes: tall strokes on b, d and h, tails on g, p and y. Those shapes help a practised reader move quickly along a line.

In capitals every letter is the same height, so words become even blocks and the reader slows down, working closer to letter by letter. Short labels survive it; paragraphs do not.

Capitals also take more room, so the same paragraph runs longer on a phone and needs more scrolling.

And online, a sentence in capitals reads as a raised voice. Most parents learned that from email long before they found this site.

Centred paragraphs

Centred text gives every line a different starting point. Each time a line ends, the eye has to search for where the next one begins.

For a three-word heading that is fine. For eight lines about the math program it is tiring, and on a phone, where lines are short and many, the page becomes a zigzag.

Left-aligned body text gives the eye one edge to return to. It is one of the plainest changes on the page, and one of the most effective.

Three colours that mean nothing

Colour in text works when it means something: links in one colour, perhaps one accent for headings. Here the colour changes from line to line, and visitors try to work out why.

Orange for important lines defeats itself. When a third of the page is important, nothing is.

Pale green on white is also hard to read, and to many colour-blind visitors the orange and the green look alike.

Underlines that go nowhere

Underlined words on a web page signal a link. People have been learning that for twenty years.

So a parent taps FREE ASSESSMENT expecting a booking page, and nothing happens. They tap again, zoom in, and wonder whether the site is broken.

It is the most expensive problem on the page. The underlined phrases are exactly the ones a ready parent wants to act on.

Either make each one a real link to the right page, or remove the underline and let a heading or bold text carry the emphasis.

Headings that say nothing

WELCOME TO OUR CENTRE, OUR PROGRAMS, WHY CHOOSE US. Headings like these tell a scanning parent nothing they did not already assume.

Parents read headings first. One that names the grade, the subject and the format, such as reading help for grades three to five in groups of four, answers the first question before the paragraph starts.

A worked example

Last August the centre's owner took a call from a father who had tried to book the free assessment four times. He had tapped the underlined words on his phone and assumed the booking system was down.

There was no booking system. Assessments were booked by phone, and the underline had been added for emphasis when the site was first written.

This summer, ahead of enrolment, the text was reset in sentence case, aligned left, in dark grey, with a single blue for links and headings.

Capitals stayed only on the short menu labels. The underlined phrases became one real button, book a free assessment, leading to a short form that asks for the grade, the subject and a phone number.

The headings now name the program and the grade, and the page is shorter, because sentence case takes less room and the repeated selling lines went.

What plain type signals

Parents are not judging the design for its own sake. They are judging whether this centre explains things clearly, and the page is the evidence in front of them.

One readable typeface at a comfortable size, dark text on a light background, left-aligned paragraphs and headings that say something read as calm and competent.

Which is what a parent hopes a tutor will be with their child.

The counter-case within the site

A logo in capitals, or capitals on short navigation labels and buttons, is not the problem described here. Three or four words read fine.

A centre whose students arrive almost entirely by referral, booking by phone after a friend's recommendation, loses less to a hard-to-read site than one finding families through search.

The paragraphs should still be in sentence case, aligned left, in one dark colour, with underlines kept for links.

What to change

  1. Set paragraphs in sentence case, not capitals.
  2. Align body text left; centre only short headings.
  3. Use one dark colour for body text.
  4. Keep one accent colour for links and headings.
  5. Underline only links, and link the key phrases.
  6. Rewrite headings to name the grade and subject.
  7. Add one booking button for the assessment.

Step five is the one costing enquiries today. An underlined phrase that does nothing when tapped is the moment a ready parent decides the site, and perhaps the centre, does not work.

Text that is hard to read for another reason, poor contrast, is covered in a painter site you have to squint to read.

Frequently asked questions

Why is all-capitals text slow to read?

Capitals are all the same height, so words lose the tall strokes and tails that help readers move quickly. Paragraphs in capitals also take more room and read as shouting.

Is centred text a problem?

For short headings, no. For paragraphs, yes: each line starts in a different place, so the eye hunts for the next one, and on phones the page zigzags.

Why does underlining matter so much?

Underlined words on a web page read as links. Parents tap them expecting the next step, and when nothing happens they assume the site is broken.

How many colours should text use?

One dark colour for body text and one accent for links and headings. Colours that change line by line confuse readers, and some pairs look alike to colour-blind visitors.

Can capitals be used at all?

Yes, for short labels such as menu items, buttons and a small line above a heading. Three or four words, never whole sentences or paragraphs.

What do parents judge from the site?

Whether the centre explains things clearly and cares about detail. The page is the first sample of its communication they see, so they judge the teaching by it.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Site set in capitals and three colours?

Send us the address before enrolment starts. We will show you how each page reads to a parent on a phone.

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