Malcom Davison (malcolm@writingfortheweb.co.uk) runs writingfortheweb.co.uk and was the launch editor for what is now the IoIC ezine. In this short feature he suggests that corporate communicators should be writing less, not more.
I had had a long hard day and was about to switch off the computer when I chanced across an article on the web that interested me. Linking to it I found it ran to some considerable length and visually offered me no way to scan through the content.
So I opted to print it out. But there was little content of real value and I felt betrayed that the headline that promised so much - linked to an article that delivered so little. Why didn’t the writer make allowances for screen reading and show more consideration for my time?
But how does reading from a computer screen affect reading speeds, and what factors need to be taken into account?
Let’s look at the facts
Five hundred words equate to about a screen and a half, or an A4 printed page length.
Average readers take in 200 words per minute (wpm) on screen or 240wpm on paper. The 500 words take 2.5 minutes onscreen and two minutes on paper.
Inefficient readers and tired readers can manage only half this rate. So that’s five minutes’ screen reading or 4.5 minutes in print.
(For the record, the fastest readers can reach 700wpm – absorbing the same material in 43 seconds or 30 on paper.)
So what does all this tell us?
Whether it’s an intranet or a corporate website we can expect a cross-section of readers will be struggling with a language that is not their mother tongue, while others will have slight or even serious reading difficulties.
Added to this in a business context, some will simply be tired, pressured or impatient and in no mood to give the writer any favours with their time. As communicators we have to make an extra effort to get our message across to everyone.
Usability guru Jakob Nielsen talks on his website (www.useit.com) about the necessity of cutting text for the web by half. But so often we can edit much tighter than this – and on an item of 1,000 words we could save as much as seven minutes of a slower reader’s time. We simply need to decide what is crucial and structure and present the information in a readable and scannable form.
From a corporate standpoint we must recognise that web writing entails much extra work to save our target audience time and hassle. Otherwise we must accept that the communication process will be less successful and, if applied to a website, could even damage the corporate brand.
If you are interested in web writing ‘tricks of the trade’ – you will find more on my website at www.writingfortheweb.co.uk. |
