3. Electronic Documents Should Be Scannable

Which version do you prefer?  (Analysis)

Conventional Text   Traditional writing genres, such as the five-paragraph essay, or a short story, are usually harder to read on a visually-intensive electronic media such as the World Wide Web, because computer users dislike reading long paragraphs.  On average, people read electronic 25% slower than conventional text.  Monitors cause eyestrain, it takes time for long pages to download, and it is easy to lose your place in an electronic document.  Traditional writing modes such as essays and narratives use long blocks of text in order to build gradually and inevitably to a conclusion.  This kind of writing assumes a captive audience -- readers who want to absorb every word and idea on the page, in the order that the author presents them.  Technical authors cannot make the same assumptions, because time is money in the professional world, which means that people will bail out of what looks like a boring document, unless they see concrete signs of useful information.  Documents which emphasize their most important information with meaningful subheadings, highlighted keywords, and bulleted lists allow readers to scan the document -- to glance over its contents quickly, stopping whenever they encounter something interesting, and skimming ahead when they are bored.  People "who surf the 'net" will likely try to surf your document as well, which means that long blocks of plain text will appear to be more trouble than they are worth.  The first person who actually reads this far in the text should e-mail the author to receive a free, autographed picture of the cast from "Full House." Preparing and revising electronic documents according to this principle is a time consuming project which, judging by the prevalence of text-heavy web sites on the Internet, many people do not want to do; however, the time that you have already invested in doing the work in the first place is completely wasted if your users never find it on your site.

Scannable Revision  Electronic Documents Should Be Scannable  People dislike reading long paragraphs of electronic text. Technical paragraphs are often inefficient ways of conveying complex information, and electronic text is harder to read.  Users prefer scannable text, so that they can glance over a page and quickly gauge its value. Scannable text uses descriptive subheadings, highlighted keywords, and bulleted lists. Technical Paragraphs Are Often Inefficient  More traditional writing genres, such as the five-paragraph essay or the short story, build gradually and inevitably to a conclusion. Long paragraphs are acceptable in this kind of writing, because the reader is expected to read every word, in strict sequential order.   Technical readers want the conclusion up front.  They will bail out quickly, unless they find something interesting.  They will scan ahead  in order to predict a page's usefulness, focusing on the words and phrases that jump out at them.  Electronic Text Is Harder to Read  Electronic text takes 25% longer to read. Many users report eye strain or other discomfort. Users lose their place when pages are densely packed. Blocks of text can be intimidating.

Analysis

Although the paragraph on the left actually contains more information, not all of it would be of interest to the users who come to this page, and there is nothing that would particularly attract the attention of those who might be interested.

The revision on the right highlights the most important details; an author can use hyperlinks to send the reader to related subdocuments or to lower sections of the same page in order to provide more details.
 

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