Day 24: Write readable web copy “Users will read about 20% of the text on the average [web] page.” – Jakob Nielsen Key point: writing for the internet is not the same as writing for the printed page How people read online People don’t read web pages in the same way as they read printed material. Research by Jakob Nielsen shows that:
People don’t read everything they see. On an average web page, users read at most 28 percent of the words.
They scan for what’s important to them. Only 16 percent of readers actually read pages word by word. Eyetracking research shows that the majority hunt and scan around the page.
Websites are optional. People are busy and they don’t always have time to read your site.
Remember these differences when reading the guidance in this section. They underpin all the recommendations. How to write for online reading Be clear. Give the reader a clue. Give them a clear picture of what your page is about so that they can make a quick decision about whether it is useful or interesting. To do this:
Write descriptive headlines that explain what the item is about.
Start with a brief summary at the top of the page.
Consider using an appropriate image to anchor the text and draw the reader’s eye.
Use a journalist’s inverted pyramid structure, starting with the conclusion.
Be concise. Respect the reader’s time. Get to the point and stay there. Compared to printed text, halving the word count makes online copy 58 percent more usable (in terms of reading time, reader recall and subjective satisfaction). There are several ways to make your writing more concise:
Eliminate unnecessary words.
Short words are best. Replace long words where possible.
Short sentences are good too.
Aim for a Flesch Reading Ease score over 60. You can evaluate web pages using my readability analysis tool.
Split long content into separate pages, posts or entries. 58