ACB Large Print Guidelines Reference

Font family: Arial is the required font for all text in the document. Arial is a clean sans-serif font with excellent legibility at large sizes and high familiarity among readers.

Body text size: 18 point minimum. This is the absolute floor for any text in the document, including footnotes, captions, headers, and footers.

No ALL CAPS: Text must not be formatted in all capital letters. ALL CAPS reduces readability because it removes the ascending and descending letter shapes that help readers recognize words.

Related audit rules

• ACB-FONT-FAMILY (Critical) -- All text must use Arial font
• ACB-FONT-SIZE-BODY (Critical) -- Body text must be 18pt minimum
• ACB-NO-ALLCAPS (High) -- Text must not use ALL CAPS formatting

Heading 1: 22 point, bold, Arial. Used for the document title or main section headings.

Heading 2 and below: 20 point, bold, Arial. Used for subsections.

Hierarchy: Heading levels must not skip. A Heading 3 must be preceded by a Heading 2, which must be preceded by a Heading 1. Skipping levels (e.g., jumping from H1 to H3) confuses document structure for both sighted readers and screen reader users.

Alignment: All headings must be flush left, same as body text.

Related audit rules

• ACB-FONT-SIZE-H1 (High) -- Heading 1 must be 22pt
• ACB-FONT-SIZE-H2 (High) -- Heading 2 must be 20pt
• ACB-HEADING-HIERARCHY (High) -- Heading levels must not skip

Underline only: When you need to emphasize text, use underline formatting. Do not use italic or bold for emphasis in body text.

No italic: Italic text is prohibited entirely. Italic characters are harder to read for people with low vision because the slanted shapes reduce letter distinction. The audit flags any italic formatting as a Critical finding.

Bold restricted to headings: Bold formatting is reserved for headings only. Bold text in body paragraphs should be converted to underline emphasis. This ensures that visual weight differences in the body text are not used to convey meaning that would be lost to assistive technology users.

Related audit rules

• ACB-NO-ITALIC (Critical) -- Italic formatting is prohibited
• ACB-BOLD-HEADINGS-ONLY (High) -- Bold in body text should be underline emphasis instead

Flush left, ragged right: All text must be left-aligned. Justified text (aligned to both left and right margins) creates uneven word spacing that makes reading harder for people with low vision and dyslexia. Centered and right-aligned text are also prohibited for body content.

Related audit rules

• ACB-ALIGNMENT (High) -- Text must be flush left (not justified, centered, or right-aligned)

Line spacing: 1.15 multiple spacing is required for print documents. For digital documents, WCAG 2.2 AA requires a minimum of 1.5x the font size.

Paragraph spacing: One blank line (12pt space after) between paragraphs. No extra spacing between list items.

Related audit rules

• ACB-LINE-SPACING (Medium) -- Line spacing must be 1.15

1 inch on all sides: Top, bottom, left, and right margins must each be at least 1 inch (2.54 cm). This provides adequate white space and prevents text from being cut off during printing.

Binding margin: If the document will be bound (stapled, spiral, or three-ring), add an extra 0.5 inch to the left margin (1.5 inches total on the left side).

Related audit rules

• ACB-MARGINS (Medium) -- Page margins must be 1 inch on all sides

Widow and orphan control: Enable widow and orphan control to prevent single lines of a paragraph from appearing alone at the top or bottom of a page. This improves readability and gives the document a professional appearance.

Related audit rules

• ACB-WIDOW-ORPHAN (Low) -- Widow and orphan control must be enabled

No automatic hyphenation: Disable automatic hyphenation. Hyphenated words at line breaks are harder to read for people with low vision because they interrupt word recognition. Let words wrap naturally to the next line.

Related audit rules

• ACB-NO-HYPHENATION (Medium) -- Automatic hyphenation must be disabled

Page numbers required: Every page must display a page number in the footer. Page numbers must be in Arial, 18pt bold, positioned at the lower outer corner of each page. This helps readers navigate multi-page documents and reference specific pages.

Related audit rules

• ACB-PAGE-NUMBERS (Medium) -- Page numbers must be present in the footer

These rules come from WCAG 2.2 AA, which supplements the ACB print guidelines for digital documents:

Document title: The document must have a title set in its properties (File > Properties > Title in Word). This title is announced by screen readers and helps users identify the document. (WCAG 2.4.2)

Document language: The document language must be set (Review > Language in Word). This tells screen readers which language to use for pronunciation. (WCAG 3.1.1)

Related audit rules

• ACB-DOC-TITLE (Medium) -- Document must have a title in properties
• ACB-DOC-LANGUAGE (Medium) -- Document language must be set

These rules are based on EPUB Accessibility 1.1 and WCAG 2.2 AA, applied when auditing .epub files:

Title: The ePub package must include a <dc:title> element in its OPF metadata. Screen readers and reading systems use this title to identify the publication.

Language: The ePub package must declare a language (<dc:language>) so reading systems can select the correct text-to-speech voice and hyphenation rules.

Navigation document: The ePub must include a navigation document (EPUB 3 nav or EPUB 2 NCX) so readers can jump between chapters and sections. This is the ePub equivalent of a table of contents.

Heading hierarchy: Content documents must use proper heading levels (h1 through h6) without skipping any levels. A heading level 3 must be preceded by a heading level 2.

Alt text: Every image must have meaningful alternative text. Decorative images should have an empty alt attribute (alt="").

Table headers: Data tables must use <th> elements so screen readers can associate data cells with their headers.

Accessibility metadata: The ePub should include schema.org accessibility metadata (accessMode, accessibilityFeature, accessibilitySummary, accessibilityHazard) so reading systems and library catalogs can describe the publication's accessibility characteristics.

Link text: Hyperlinks must have descriptive text. Avoid vague phrases like "click here", "read more", or "here".

Related audit rules

• EPUB-TITLE (High) -- ePub must have a title in OPF metadata
• EPUB-LANGUAGE (High) -- ePub must declare a language
• EPUB-NAV-DOCUMENT (High) -- ePub must include a navigation document
• EPUB-HEADING-HIERARCHY (High) -- Heading levels must not skip
• EPUB-MISSING-ALT-TEXT (Critical) -- Images must have alt text
• EPUB-TABLE-HEADERS (High) -- Tables must use th elements
• EPUB-ACCESSIBILITY-METADATA (Medium) -- ePub should include accessibility metadata
• EPUB-LINK-TEXT (High) -- Links must have descriptive text