Reading speed online – getting your message through

Studies have shown that reading speed online is slower by 10-30% than reading speeds obtained offline. Now before you go ahead and encourage your audience to print a copy of the web there are ways you can maximise the reading speeds for your website and ensure your message is received.

Utilise intelligent headings, summaries and bullet points

Really the less content that needs to be read to deliver your message the better, imagine every word on the page costs you $1, naturally you will then try and deliver your messages efficiently. Also try to think as if your users will not read your website at all, particularly not in the same way as they read a book.

Instead users will be guided by the information and interaction design of your website and skim your website focusing on headings, introductions, images, video and bullet points. Use this intelligence to optimise your copy and page layout to maximise your message delivery.

Avoid large blocks of text

Avoid creating an emotional barrier to your users by putting a daunting quantity of text on any one page and utilise tools described above to break up this content when it is necessary.
Pay attention to the contrast between your text and the background
This is really a no brainer; dark backgrounds are pretty much always bad if you are delivering any real depth of content. You need to maximise the contract of copy if you want your users to read that copy.

Increase the font size

Provide users with appropriate font sizes and allow them to adapt the font size to suit their vision, screen resolution, etc.