How to Customize Text for Easier Reading: Size, Spacing, and Color

The default text settings on most websites were designed for someone who reads quickly without difficulty. If that’s not you — or if you’re reading for hours and your eyes are tired — the defaults are often actively uncomfortable. Fortunately, a small number of changes account for the majority of the difference.

Font size: bigger than you think

Most body text on the web is set at 14–16px. Research from the Web Accessibility Initiative and independent readability studies consistently finds that 18–20px is the sweet spot for reducing visual crowding and fatigue — especially for readers with dyslexia or low vision.

Larger text also helps in another way: it forces shorter line lengths at a given column width, which keeps your eye from wandering.

A common mistake is increasing size without also adjusting line height, which can make large text feel cramped. The two settings work together.

Line spacing: the underrated fix

Line spacing (CSS line-height) is one of the most impactful adjustments you can make and one of the most often overlooked. Most web pages use a line height of around 1.2–1.3×. For comfortable extended reading — and especially for dyslexic readers who sometimes re-read the same line — 1.5× to 1.8× line height is recommended.

The difference is immediately visible: tight spacing makes text feel like a wall; relaxed spacing makes the page feel like it has room to breathe.

Line length: don’t make your eyes travel far

Long lines force your eyes to travel a long distance from the end of one line to the beginning of the next, which is where most people lose their place. 60–70 characters per line is the conventional target. At common font sizes, this corresponds to a reading column around 500–650px wide — narrower than many full-width desktop layouts.

If you’re reading a site with full-width text on a large monitor, limiting the column width even artificially (with a browser extension that injects a max-width rule) can dramatically reduce reading effort.

Background and contrast: beyond black and white

“High contrast” is often interpreted as “pure black on pure white,” but that’s not the whole picture. Pure white backgrounds emit a lot of blue light and can cause eye strain over extended sessions — sometimes called the “glare effect.”

Many readers with dyslexia or visual sensitivity find cream, light yellow, or pale gray backgrounds significantly more comfortable than white without losing enough contrast to affect readability. The WCAG 2.1 contrast ratio standard (4.5:1 minimum for body text) is a floor, not a ceiling — there’s a meaningful range of comfortable high-contrast settings.

Dark mode is the same trade-off in reverse: black backgrounds with bright text eliminate glare but can cause halation (bright text appearing to bleed into dark surroundings) for some readers. A very dark gray background (e.g., #1a1a1a) with off-white text often works better than true black-on-white inverted.

Font choice: what the evidence says

There is no consensus that any single font is dramatically better for dyslexia. Studies comparing OpenDyslexic, Arial, Verdana, and other options tend to find individual preferences vary widely. What most research does agree on is that sans-serif fonts, generous letter spacing, and avoiding fonts where b/d/p/q look nearly identical are the most consistent factors.

Verdana and Atkinson Hyperlegible (free from the Braille Institute) score well across multiple studies. The key is giving readers the ability to choose rather than enforcing one font for everyone.

Making changes that stick

The challenge with reading adjustments is that individual websites don’t share settings. Changing one site doesn’t change the next one. Tools that apply reading preferences globally — browser extensions, reading mode features — solve this by applying the same settings across every page you visit, regardless of how the page was built.

The most practical approach is to identify the 3–4 settings that matter most to you (size, spacing, background color, font) and find a tool that persists those across sessions and pages without requiring you to re-apply them every time.