We have heard numerous times how people skim articles and posts online, rarely reading everything, looking only for bits of information and then fine tuning focus on what looks important to them. Did you read all that? Good your still with me.
Lets dig into the way we read online and learn how to potentially format content that keeps the readers attention longer.
Last time you were in a book store, shopping for the next book, how did you go about this search? Assuming you didn’t have a title/author in mind maybe you cruised the non-fiction section looking at covers. Then a book cover with a picture of the president elect caught your eye, THE AUDACITY OF HOPE. What happened next?
You turn the book over and read the back, the synopsis, and get a feel if this is of interest to you. “Maybe this self-portrait of the next prez will be intriguing… or maybe I will wait till he writes the next one.”
This is also how blog posts and articles are read online.You are first attracted to any imagery or titles, then the summary or synopsis (first paragraph) and finally the article itself.
Jakob Nielsen, in a recent article about Online Literacy, calls the way people take in the page as the “F-pattern”. Users read all the way across the top and as they proceed their descent quickens and horizontal sight contracts, with a slowdown around the middle of the page. Towards the bottom of the page the eyes move almost vertically ignoring the lower-right corner of the page. This is all happening very quickly. “F for fast, that’s how users read your precious content.”
Lets break it down. How do you find your articles or blog posts?
Headlines First
The title or headline will be the most likely source of a link to the content. Maybe through a RSS reader or a link through another blog. Or maybe through a social media site like Digg/Reddit/Delicious. Here the headline is king and that must grab someones interest. However you can’t lie or be overly sensational, nor boring. Ask a question, tease them into the content, make it spark some curiosity.
Image and Photos
This will supplement the headline. Also back it up on some of the social media sites with a thumbnail, and this is important. The image should relate to the text. If you have an article about holiday shopping and a photo of a great white shark jumping out of the water towards a helicopter next to it then you will loose some trust in the reader and frustrate them, unless you back that image up somehow.
The Synopsis (or back of the book)
Great, you found a cool book cover (graphic/photo or headline link) now you turn it over (click through) to read a summary of what it is all about. This will be the opening paragraph. This should sum up the content and also lead the reader into the rest of the information.
Like the F-Pattern says, at the top of the page we still give more of our attention. Make it just like the headline, but with more emphasis- it should encourage readers to read on.
The Rest of It
The body of the post should be thought of in the same way as all the other elements. Be precise and make it scannable. How is your paragraph column laid out? Is it wide or more narrow like this post? This should be entered into the equation when deciding how to make the text more bite sized.
With me, I will sometimes read the headline and if it interests me I will skip right into the content and scan that for sub-headings and bold text that may summarize what I want to read. If I think that is interesting I will move back to the top of the page and read down, then skip what I already read or read again. Or if the headline grabbed me but the text was lacking- I am outta there…FAST. Weird, I know, but I find myself doing this.
Some articles may require long-winded text that everyone will consciously read because the content is so rich and has the audience already, but this is not always the case-more like the exception.
If the text is dense the reader may tend to drift into scan mode. Combat this by breaking up your content with shorter paragraphs an more digestible information. Here are some ways this can be accomplished:
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Lists (yup…this)
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Sub Headings
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Graphics and Photos
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Pull Quotes (shown above)
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Bold and Highlighted Text
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Text Links
Finally you need to wrap it all up. This should just be a few sentences on what the content said to the reader, repeat some main points and maybe ask a question for them to think about in the future or ways to keep the idea going. Today it is important to make all your content accessible and approachable for users, following some of these guides will surely help you do that.
What works for you when you read content online?
I often create list to help the readers scan through the content and make the first sentence bold (the essence of the entire bullet point).
Also, white space can help relax the eyes and make the text seems to be less dense.
Great post-loved it. This is really rocking hot-and thank you for the great teaching. Lists seem to be the most popular still. Amazing –and love the quotes idea as well!
@ Hendry- Lists seem to be king and I like the way you made your last sentence on its own- white space at work
@ Doug- thanks! Quotes usually always grab my attention first and then I dig into the body text if I like it.
Excellent use of user behavior information to write about usability! Its it one thing to talk about it, it is another to show it in action.
If an article includes an image, the caption is typically read first by most readers…
Strong subheads work great for readers that want to skim for important info…If you’re subhead catches ‘em, they’ll dive in and read more.
The internet made us aware not to read everything we can find. Especially the last couple of year user behavior has changed a lot regarding this matter.
Always evolving
I agree Lening. Thanks for commenting!
thank you very much.
Glad you liked it bursa evden eve!
Yes Patrick, a nice graphic that relates to the story is a good way to keep attention. I wasn't paying much attention to it before, but I've learnt to do it better from you! This is an article that made me to rethink the way I write.
Thanks Mexabet! Glad you were able to take something from this, and thanks for commenting
I'm quite guilty of not completely reading all the content on a page. I really think this is one of the reasons that list posts do so well. Those special posts convey a lot of information very quickly, so the reader doesn't have enough time to lost interest.
I agree Jesse M, I rarely read a whole article through without first skimming in or reading it in chunks first- then going back to the top
Thanks for commenting
This is certainly true for large articles with many parapraphs. Most of the times when you enter a page after clicking on a result in the search engine. The first thing you do on the page is trying to find that piece of information. That's why search engines love good article structures just like this article. Actually, I haven't read it, I only screen-read it
Well what are you waiting for
Since a child i have loved watching documentaries about the Great White Shark, the worlds most perfect killing machine.
When the microbe has grown for the day, and reached its maximum number of organisms, you than transfer 1% of the culture to a new tube. ,
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Headline with question is good. But if its a nswer, even better! =)