So far, I have looked at how content needs to be perceivable and operable to be accessible, but it also needs to be understandable. (If you want a refresher on how operability and perceivability shape the foundations before you reach this principle, the other WCAG pillars provide practical checklists and examples: A Designer’s Guide to WCAG Perceivable Principles and WCAG Operable Principles.)
The WCAG principle of Understandable ensures that information and user interfaces are clear, predictable, and easy to comprehend. While not part of the official success criteria, I take this one step further and use this principle as an opportunity to be more intentionally inclusive with the argument that it is harder to understand if you cannot see yourself in content or in how it is applied. This is stretching the principle a little but even perfectly perceivable and operable content fails if learners cannot make sense of it.
What Does Understandable Mean?
Understandable content is content that learners can interpret without confusion. This includes:
- Plain language and instructions.
- Predictable navigation and consistent layouts.
- Error messages that explain what went wrong and how to fix it.
WCAG breaks this principle into success criteria that focus on readability, predictability, and input assistance. These are all areas where learning designers can make a real difference. The criteria are specific to accessibility needs around cognition including cognitive disabilities and language barriers, but they also benefit learners new to digital learning environments and those from socio-economic circumstances that tend to be underrepresented in further and higher educational settings. Which is why I like to use this opportunity to stretch the principle a little to ensure content is a little more inclusive.
For instance, I use global examples where appropriate, not just UK/USA centric examples, my visuals show a variety of accessibility aids, without comment, and my scenarios reflect varying levels of affluence. These choices help learners ‘see themselves’ in the content, which supports engagement and reduces cognitive load. (If you’re working on predictability and navigation patterns in parallel, a big part of reducing cognitive load, the Operable pillar offers practical starting points for keyboard logic and layout consistency: WCAG Operable Principles.)
Key Actions for Learning Designers
Here’s what you can do to make learning experiences understandable:
Use Clear and Simple Language
Avoid jargon, overly complex sentences, and unnecessary technical terms. Aim for plain language that communicates ideas effectively. This doesn’t mean oversimplifying content, which is a complaint I have had many times, but does mean making it accessible without sacrificing accuracy.
The Wired Five levels of difficulty series is an excellent example of what I mean by this as it also addresses audience. It gets authors to think about where they are pitching their content and to use the plainest language they can at that level. I also happen to be an ex-English teacher so if there is one word that can take the place of a whole sentence of nuance, I’m probably going to use it. The Microsoft editor, now in most of their programmes, is good at identifying overly complex sentences and suggest improvements but, as with all things auto generated it is fallible. (If you’re juggling wording alongside visual and multimedia density, it may help to revisit how media choices contribute to cognitive load and clarity — see Top Multimedia Principles for eLearning Design.)
Provide Clear Instructions
Learners should know what to do at every step. Instructions for activities, assessments, and navigation should be explicit and concise. For example, instead of saying “Complete the task,” specify “Select the ‘Submit’ button after answering all questions.” Again, I’ve had discussions about this with authors telling me ‘They are X level students, they should be able to Y’ and that is probably true, but how will they know they should be able to do Y without being told? Expectations should be clearly stated so that learners aren’t being tripped up on technicalities. (Clear instructions are also central to the professional scope of the learning designer — laying out expectations, breaking down tasks, and scaffolding steps is part of the core role explored in The Role of a Learning Designer.)
Maintain Consistent Navigation
This one might be in the set up rather than in the subject content but keep menus and buttons where learners expect them rather than making them hunt for it. Avoid sudden layout changes or hidden navigation elements that force learners to guess where to go next. This standardises the user experience and means learning is efficient. Learners can concentrate on knowledge and skills rather than how the module works. It does also mean planning on a bigger scale than one learning object or module. I’ve seen courses where navigation jumps around between modules, and it’s frustrating.
Consistency means learners focus on learning, not on playing hide-and-seek with the interface. That means, even if you didn’t create the first module, even if you don’t like it, unless it is detrimental to learners, your module should mimic the first in terms of structure and navigation. (If you work across teams or shared authoring environments, maintaining this consistency becomes a collaborative practice — the guidance on equitable, team‑based tool use in Collaborative Tools for Enhanced Learning is a helpful complement.)
Offer Input Assistance
If learners need to enter data (e.g., in forms or quizzes), provide clear labels and helpful error messages. For example, instead of “Invalid input,” say “Please enter a date in DD/MM/YYYY format.”
Tools to Help
Quick Decision Tree
Start with the content and interface:
Microsoft 365 Accessibility Checker
I keep coming back to Microsoft 365 and Adobe PDF accessibility checkers because they tend to be the tools already available to most of us, do what is needed, and incur no additional costs. In this case the checkers can flag unclear language and navigation issues.
Readability Tools
Microsoft 365 also has the editor tool I mentioned above which will score your writing on set criteria according to the writing style you set. I personally don’t use Grammarly or Hemingway but both give readability scores and suggested improvements, and I know learning designers that swear by it.
LMS Features
The choice of LMS is unlikely to be in the control of a learning designer as it is a decision probably made years previously but learning the LMS, its quirks and features will allow a learning designer to create a consistent experience. Many platforms allow consistent templates for navigation and layout.
Why Understandable Matters
People think ‘understandable’ is subjective, but it’s not. When content is clear and predictable, learners stop wasting energy figuring out what to do and start focusing on the actual learning. That’s when confidence and results improve.
Making content understandable is a practical and powerful way to improve accessibility. By using plain language, providing explicit instructions, maintaining consistent navigation, and offering input assistance, you create learning experiences that work for everyone. For learning designers, this principle is really central to the job. Can your learners understand and learn the knowledge and skills you are trying to impart. If the answer is no, the learning experience isn’t fulfilling its purpose.
Leave a Reply