How Users Read on the Web

They don't!

People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (Update: a newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.)

As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using

• Highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
• Meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
• Bulleted lists
• One idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
• The inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
• Half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

To read the complete article click Here