| Reading by Scanning: A Web Habit |
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Written by Mada Tuedate December 28, 2005 I found one of Nick Usborne's articles recently while browsing A List Apart (another highly recommended resource, duh). In a nutshell, Nick delineates the importance of keeping your site navigation and content simple, concise, pointed and substantive. Check out the article here: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/helpingvisitors. Here's the thing that grabbed me: we skim. We all do it, at least the majority of us who spend too much time online. We skim over articles, emails, headlines, forms, ebay and blogs. Nick always keeps things to the point - a writing habit I admire - but the question I have for LEDers is, how extensive is this "phenomenon of skimming"? If most of us DO indeed skim, then we should really start writing to cater to that habit, right? Then again - when real substance and quality information are being presented, keeping it tight and simple sometimes just ain't possible (at least without sacrificing something in the content). I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks (Love Live LED!), Mada Tuedate under construction since '97 Written by Tom Aman December 29, 2005 First, the article you mention should be required reading for anyone designing a Web site. I would tend to agree that most of us do skim when we are in the quest for information. But once we hit pay-dirt, we will stop and read in some detail. So the solution to the problem you present is actually quite simple. There seem to be a couple of approaches. The examples mentioned in the article dell.com and microsoft.com point to sites that contain little detailed info on the landing page. What is good about these pages is that, in spite of the sites being huge, the landing page can be "skimmed" easily and it becomes fairly easy for the visitor to quickly zero in on the appropriate area that will meet their specific need. The other approach, where there is to be real content on the landing page, is to write the first paragraph of info so it becomes like an executive summary - tight and simple. This way a visitor can "skim" that first paragraph and decide if the site is likely to contain what they want. If the site looks good, they will be prepared to read more detail in subsequent paragraphs. I use the term "paragraph" loosely here, the first "paragraph" may be actual text but it could be an image map, a list of well described links, etc. - anything that concisely conveys what the site is about. Subsequent "paragraphs" would be whatever is required to convey the information intended. Anyone who goes beyond that first paragraph is likely to be prepared to actually read in more detail so setting up for skimming becomes less important at that stage although the landing page for any significant sub-section of the site should probably be skimmable. Tom Aman Aman Software Written by Tom Chatterton January 2, 2006 > If most of us DO indeed skim, then we should really > start writing to cater to that habit, right? Then again - > when real substance and quality information are being > presented, keeping it tight and simple sometimes > just ain't possible... - Mada Tuedate Of course! Here's the solution to skimming surfers... Newspapers and traditional magazines were originally DESIGNED for skimming, due to heavy competition. (Old methods never die; they evolve.) Use the journalism method. In your first paragraph, headline, or textbox, try and mention as much as you can, the who / what / where / when or why of your business information. A good site probably reads like an interactive magazine cover, with links to finish a thought from the main page, just like magazines do. BTW - Today's spiders behave much like a robo skimming sufer... looking for relevant content, so you'll probably hit two birds with one stone...with persistent effects. I hope this helps. Tom Chatterton, CMT amazingmassage.com Written by Kathy Wilson January 2, 2006 Jakob Nielsen, probably the greatest source for website usability issues addressed this issue years ago, and his article is still relevant today. Interestingly, I'm noticing that the formatting for printed books is now beginning to mimic the way we write for the web, i.e., bullets, shorter paragraphs, sans serif fonts, and a blank line between paragraphs. Love, Kathy Wilson under-one-roof.net Written by Peter D'Aprix January 3, 2006 Actually I think that this thread is a very important one for web designers and should be really fully explored. Having received my first degree in Journalism, long before I received another in Photography, which was decades before I started creating web sites (OK, we have established that I have one foot in the grave already), I worked on a newspaper in Windsor, England, right across the road from one of the country cottages of a certain well known royal family. Both in my studies and practice on the newspaper, it was taken for granted that "skimming" was how people first approached almost any publication. That is why the concept of the pyramid in journalistic writing was established long before I was born. That is to say, to summarize the content and catch the eye with the bold headline. The first sentence expands on it with the first paragraph containing "what", "where" , "when", "how" and "why". If the headline catches the reader and he / she reads the first paragraph, they have a pretty good idea of the story. If they have continued interest, they will read the rest of the article. But nevertheless, the most important information comes first, all other information is prioritized with the least important coming last. This is not only to convey to the reader the most important information up front so if they stop reading part way through they will still have a pretty good idea of the content, but also so that if the editor only has just so much space, he can cut the story to fit the space and it will still make sense. Web sites really are no different. They are at their core an information delivery system. Information should be spoon fed at the beginning. Short sentences that are right to the point. Then links can lead to more content. I get very frustrated with sites that stop with the initial spoon full and leave me hanging, and many do exactly that with the idea, quite correctly, that visitors don't read much on sites. Many designers do this on purpose to prompt the visitor to pick up the phone and call so they can be sold by a sales person. Personally I just get annoyed and find someone else's site to get information from. We all behave a bit differently. But I think when visitors do find something worth their while to pursue, they really want all the information they can find. So they will skim until they do so. Then they will call. If you visit most newspaper's sites, this is exactly what they do. Check out http://iht.com as an example. You may also notice is does not fit well into an 800x600 12" laptop screen. I have found most of my clients don't want to fork over money for a professional copy writer which I think is a mistake. I can write copy, but I am no professional copy writer whose specialty is more than just expressing themselves well in language but concisely communicating facts and ideas in as few words as possible making it as understandable to the widest audience as possible, as quickly as possible, after that audience has been identified and targeted. Like freeway bill boards, you only have a few seconds to catch the interest of your visitor and hold him on your site. Part of that is the visual design, but the purpose of visual design is to direct the visitor's eye where you want it to go - the copy. SEO experts and site promotion professionals can be enormously successful in bringing visitors to a site, but once there, if you want to keep them, there is an art and science to doing so and part of that is catering to skimming. I would welcome any comments and enlargement of this theme. Obviously just how this is carried out depends on the target audience and the product or service on the site. I use this approach on my e-magazine (gourmetvoyageurs.com) devoted to doggie friendly high end eating establishments, I hope reasonably successfully. Although I have discovered that visitors do not use it as a magazine, in other words they don't come into the home page and work their way through. Rather, they have done a search for a particular region, town or restaurant and link straight to it. But even so, I try to have a headline and encapsulated first paragraph for each story. Sincerely Peter D'Aprix peter, daprix.com Written by Kathryn Martyn January 4, 2006 Did you say "doggie friendly restaurants" and high end at that? LOL Who knew? I'm definitely mentioning this in my next newsletter, Bits-n-Bites for People Who Chew. I love LED-digest.com for more than just what I learn about the web and development, but also discovering new sites and ideas. As to skimming, of course we skim. Who's got time to read all those words? What many don't realize is books are sold based on titles and chapter headings and the vast majority are never cracked open, let alone read. No reason to think websites would be much different. Think about it: most people hate to read. Who do you know that reads lots of books? There are a few of us word freaks out there, but most never step foot in a bookstore, and go right to the comics when they read the Sunday paper. ;-0 Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP onemorebite-weightloss.com Written by Michael Linehan January 5, 2006 > Books... the vast majority are never cracked open, let > alone read. No reason to think websites would be much > different. Who do you know that reads lots of books? - Kathryn Martyn Sorry Kathryn. In spite of the ;-0, I have to take issue with just about everything you say here. (Or if you meant these statements satirically, my apologies. I didn't think of that possibility until I had written the following.) Your statements strike me as very similar to the common marketing wisdom, "As we all know, you must keep sales letters short. No-one wants to read long sales letters." I come across people frequently who think this. In fact, I'd say most of my clients believe this, initially. But thinking this is true puts a severe limitation on anyone's ability to write effective copy. Claude Hopkins demonstrated very powerfully (around 1923) that the 'common sense' idea of brevity was not true at all. It has been demonstrated over and over since. Essentially, people will read any length of sales message IF the message has value in and of itself for the reader. From that comes the recommendation - make your message as long as it needs to be. If 10 words is the perfect length, then that is what it should be. If you need 10 pages, take them. Absolutely, edit the content so the skimmers can get the core messages easily --- but don't think everyone is a skimmer. Some people LOVE to read. Some people will REQUIRE deep detail before purchasing. Accommodate all of them: it's easy to do so. It's like face-to-face sales. Some people want to get down to it - give me the facts and let's get this done. Some people want to develop a relationship. Some people want to cross-examine you. A sales person who can only relate in one mode is going to have a rough time. Same on the Web. Part of the skill of a good Web copywriter will be to address the needs of various types of readers simultaneously. And one immediately practical point: if we were to cut down to skimmer level on "all those words", we'd have a very small site and probably zero search engine presence. Michael Linehan Marketing Alchemy Written by Kathryn Martyn January 9, 2006 Hi Michael, I didn't mean to imply that content should be pared down, just that those headings are critical. My point was we should not assume people are reading our carefully crafted content. If you use headings to lead a skimmer, plus the content for those who want it (more detail, etc.), you have win/win. Here's an excerpt from "Don't Make Me Think," that outlines the concept well. Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP onemorebite-weightloss.com Comments (0)
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