The case for long articles : February 2008 : Ian Douglas : Technology : Telegraph Blogs: "Certainly the Poynter Eyetrack surveys don't think it's true. They found that online readers get through 75 per cent of an article, as opposed to 62 per cent for broadsheet readers and 57 per cent for tabloids. Even for long-form articles, people get through more on a screen than on paper.
The same survey found that short paragraphs encourage people to continue reading, but the number of paragraphs and having to scroll didn't put anyone off."
Hooray! Content is king! Seriously though, good to see an article which goes beyond the cliché that 'people don't read serious stuff on screen' and looks at how people can be helped to get through their online reading rather than simply watering down the content.
PS Shame about the typos in the article itself. Online doesn't have to mean that you didn't proof-read it first... "huge variety of sibject matter". Tut, tut!
PPS Yes, I have read, re-read and re-read again what I've written above just in case I made some kind of typing bodge-up too. :o)
Whoops. Now fixed, along with a few other typos. Where are the sub-editors when you need them?
ReplyDeleteYou just can't get the staff these days, huh? :o))
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