What Is the Reading Level of the United States
All of our organizations are shifting toward digital communication. They're reducing face up-to-face up contact, calls and printed material.
Why? An obvious reason is that digital reduces price.For some government services,the average cost of a digital transaction is 5 percent of the cost of a phone transaction, 3 percent of the cost of a postal transaction, and 2 percent of the cost of a face up-to-face transaction.
But in addition to cost, customers are demanding digital services. Digital is simpler and easier. It allows customers to become the data they demand when they demand it.
But if your digital content isn't readable, it won't be of use to your customers, no matter how nifty your website is.
Readability is about making your digital content clear and easy to understand. When you focus on readability, you increase the chance your target audience volition actually read and interact with your content. For this reason, readability should exist a natural role of your content direction.
So, allow's say you've formulated a clear communications strategy and your content program is all in place. Without checking the readability of your content, all of your hard work and planning could go to waste. Here are three reasons why readability should be a focus for content editors:
1. Your audience's reading age is lower than you think
Whether your website is targeted toward the general public or a specific demographic, it is important to realize that the average reading age is lower than yous might expect. U.S. illiteracy statistics from the Literacy Project Foundation offering some surprising insights.
The boilerplate American is considered to have a readability level equivalent to a 7th/eighth grader (12 to fourteen years quondam). This level is actively used every bit a benchmark for written guidelines in the medical industry.
In the Uk, the central regime encourages content writers to aim for a readability level of age 9. Their reasoning for this is that around the age of ix, children terminate reading common words and just recognize their shape. This allows them to read faster. By reducing long sentences and words, you can help continue text uncomplicated and easy to read.
two. Readability is nearly spider web accessibility
By not addressing the readability of your content, yous could be actively discriminating against users with learning disabilities. In contrast to other online readers, some users volition read words letter for letter – making long words and long sentences a challenge.
As role of the WCAG guidelines text should non crave a more avant-garde level than lower secondary education.
3. Online reading is unlike
Regardless of literacy level, people read differently online than they do when reading printed text. Studies have shown that people browse web pages and only read nearly xviii% of what's on the page. The aforementioned studies say if you convert print text to the web, you should reduce content by nearly 50%.
Web users don't even necessarily read from the pinnacle to lesser or give-and-take for word. This is because they are looking for specific information or trying to complete a task and can get impatient if the content is too wordy.
As a content editor, it's not enough to copy and paste text from one format to another. In order to make sure that your website is understandable and accessible to all users, you must consider how the text is formulated and what words you're using.
Interestingly, using long words can result in readers missing shorter words that follow them, which tin can profoundly affect text interpretation. Using shorter words and shorter sentences will present content in a much more than user-friendly fashion and volition suit the way they approach text on a website meliorate.
It's also important to remember that writing clearly for the web is a skill. Writing well on paper does not necessarily mean that someone communicates well online. By ensuring content editors are involved in the production of online content, they tin can assistance reduce jargon and other poor readability elements.
Implementing readability on your website
So we've established that readability is vital to your digital content process, merely where exercise you lot start? Siteimprove's downloadable readability checklist will help you create readable, plain language content. Proceed it nearby whenever you're writing new content.
This blog was originally posted on Siteimprove, October 2016
Virtually the author: Lisa Marchand is a content strategy specialist at Siteimprove, a SaaS company that helps make the web a better identify for all through its all-in-ane digital direction solution. In her office she loves covering topics such every bit analytics, website best practices, and digital accessibility effectually the world.
Source: https://centerforplainlanguage.org/what-is-readability/