Health Literacy Advisor vs Readability

Health Literacy Advisor (HLA) assesses and improves document readability using plain-language principles. The desktop edition works inside Microsoft Word, highlighting complicated words, words with three or more syllables, and long sentences. It includes nine readability indices, including Fry-Based, Precise SMOG, Gunning-Fog, ARI, Flesch-Kincaid, Dale-Chall, FORCAST, and Coleman-Liau. An interactive Search and Replace feature offers plain-language alternatives and descriptions for more than 12,000 difficult words, phrases, and medical jargon. ReadEasy Document Assessment pairs readability data with a self-assessment covering readability, content, design, and cultural appropriateness. HLA Online assesses and improves documents in a browser, and saves documents with their scores and details. It works on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices running Windows, Macintosh, Android, or iOS. Its private remote server is described as HIPAA compliant. Desktop and Online licenses run for 365 days from activation and are assigned to one individual; they may not be shared or transferred without written permission. English licenses cost $499 a year, and English and Spanish licenses cost $599 a year.

Readability analyzes Markdown files and reports measures of reading complexity. It provides grade level, reading ease and estimated reading time calculated at 200 words per minute. The listed grade-level formulas are Flesch-Kincaid, Gunning Fog, Coleman-Liau, SMOG and ARI. It also measures word and sentence metrics and can detect or require MkDocs-style admonitions. Results can be produced as a table, Markdown, JSON, summary or report. Configurable thresholds can fail CI checks when documentation exceeds them, and a.readability.yml file supports path-specific overrides. The project documents a Go command-line tool, Docker, a GitHub Action and pre-commit hooks, alongside CI/CD examples for GitLab CI, CircleCI and Jenkins. Pre-built binaries are listed for Linux and macOS in amd64 and arm64, and Windows in amd64. The project identifies its license as MIT and lists no paid plans. Its documentation cautions that scores measure word and sentence complexity, not accuracy, completeness, context or tone.