how to make your content more readable
DESCRIPTION
Take a look at your website and evaluate the way spacing, headers, font, paragraphs, and color are influencing legibility. Could a few design changes make the difference in how your readers are able to process your information? What areas could be improved? What changes should you make? And what other design factors play a role in readability online?TRANSCRIPT
If you were designing for a magazine, you’d put great thought into the layout of the pages, the typefaces, and the colors.
Why not take the same considerations into thought when posting content
online? In terms of design, many of the same principles are applicable to online content as they are in print. If you keep these strategies in mind, your online content will be easier to read and thus easier and more likely to be shared or go viral.
Let’s get started.
Spacing
Almost as important as the words in your content is the space that goes around it. Space helps add emphasis to certain statements – and makes the content easier to read!
Line Spacing: to increase legibility, you may need to adjust the space between lines of text, as well as spacing between words or leDers.
White Space: don’t forget the space surrounding the content! More white space means neater pages and easier reading – parFcularly on the internet where readers are looking at a backlit screen.
Headers
Headers draw the reader’s aDenFon because they should indicate the subject at hand in a clear and concise maDer. You can customize the look of headers in your website by adjusFng the style sheet and using CSS.
Make sure that your “headers” aren’t simply bold or italics! Use the <h1>, <h2>, and <h3> tags. Why? Google and other search engines will go through your content and categorize your site using these tags. The easier it is for search engines to figure out what’s relevant to keyword searches, the easier it is for potenFal customers to find you!
Font
Font is key in readability. Also keep in mind that many “special” fonts aren’t available on all computers, so before you code that niXy script into your site, consider readability on computers that might not have that font.
Generally, it’s a good idea to go with sans-‐serif fonts for the internet, as this increases readability. A “serif” is the liDle lines that appear on some fonts at the ends of leDers.
For example, the font you are currently reading is sans-‐serif. The typewriter font being used for the header is serif. Most print media uses serif-‐based fonts, most internet-‐based media uses sans-‐serif.
Paragraphs
Avoid long paragraphs for media meant to be consumed online. Generally, a paragraph should be no longer than three or four sentences. Paragraphs that are too long can seem daunFng to the eye.
AddiFonally, avoid using the tab buDon to format paragraphs. The double return between paragraphs is easier on the eye when words are on a screen. In order to get this effect using HTML, use the code <p>
Color
Obviously, don’t put hot pink text on a black background, or blue text on a red background. Using creaFve colors and eye-‐catching visual effects is fine – just make sure you don’t sacrifice the readability of your content!
It is also beDer to keep from using stark black with stark white, as this has been known to cause increased reading impediments in dyslexics and also is hard on the eyes of anybody. It’s beDer to use slightly off white with slightly off black for an easily-‐readable piece.
Applying the Basics
It’s a good idea to take the Fme to go through your site and look at your content not only for the quality of the wriFng… but the visual aestheFcs and how easy it is on the eyes.
Ge`ng your site up the Google charts has a lot to do with content and it’s true that content is king – but you need to put the king on an appropriate throne to make sure that people noFce him!
Content Equals Money
Content Equals Money is a content wriFng service that serves a wide variety of clients with top-‐shelf, sharable content. Our goal is to work with small companies in order to help them reap the same results from content markeFng as the Fortune 500 companies. Content markeFng is truly scalable and can work for all businesses and business sizes!