"On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely."
- Jakob Nielsen 2008
- Jakob Nielsen 2008
This shows that there has to be a significant change in the designing for an online page as compared to a print document.
Early printed pages treat text as visual material without regard for syllable boundaries to create pleasing visual patterns, which results in dense printed pages (Kress & Van Leeuwan 2006).
This equation would not work for online pages therefore Nielsen's advice is to place importance in the factors below:
- The use of highlight keywords
- Meaningful sub-headings
- Bulleted lists
- Half the word count (or less)
(Nielsen 1995)
In an online page, graphics, good writing and outbound hypertext links should also be used to increase credibility.
Below is a comparison of a print layout and an effective blog layout.
A text-heavy magazine layout
This magazine layout has several visuals to attract readers but there is much space dedicated to text.
A well-designed website layout
This blog layout has many captioned high-quality visuals and outbound links to create interest in the viewer. The text are much shortened and condensed to avoid wordy paragraphs which may put netizens off.
A good web designers should know the Do's and Don'ts of creating a layout that appeals to web users.
References
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 2006, ‘Chapter 6: The meaning of composition’ in Reading image, Routledge, London.
Nielsen, J. 2008, How Little Do Users Read, viewed November 12 2009, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html
Nielsen, J. 1997, How Users Read on the Web, viewed November 12 2009, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
Nielsen, J. 2005, Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, viewed November 12 2009, http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weblogs.html
2 comments:
Samantha,
Excellent post on writing.
I am a Technical Writer/Editor in the United States.
I work for a very large organization and have to adhere to a rigorous review and concurence process before any technical publication is released for the intended user.
Some of our work is going to electronic formats and is designed to support a variety of complex vehicles.
I look forward to reading more from you.
BTW, can you expand your thoughts on the difference between writing for social networks vs. commercial magazine (print), vs web delivered content.
What you have shown here is strictly consumer type blog and web delivery, and has no relationship to specific technical content delivery.
Have a great weekend.
BTW I found your site by a link at HitoMi's weblog.
David
Hi David, I appreciate your reading and commenting on my blog post.
However this blog happens to be one assignment I did last semester in my uni, and we won't be required to write anymore posts.
Still, thank you for your input and have a great weekend yourself. :)
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