SCANNING
Most people scan first
In early usability tests, 79% of users always scanned a new page and only 16% read it word by word. Highlighted keywords, bullets and one idea per paragraph help them.
Test a paragraphMost readers skim before they read.
Usability studies found that people scan a new page, picking out words and headings, and read only a slice of the text. Writing guidance built on that research comes back to one idea: put the useful words where the eye lands first.
- Lead with the answer
- Headings that say something
- Shorter, plainer sentences
- Small edits, posts people finish
THE SHORT ANSWER
Readers skim,
so make skimming work.
People rarely read web pages word by word.
The research points to a few simple habits.
LENGTH
Half the words, more use
A version of the same web page with about half the words scored 58% better on usability than a wordy, promotional version in the same study.
See the numbers
HEADINGS
Put the point up front
Eyetracking found people often read in an F shape. Guidance says to put the key points in the first two paragraphs and start headings with the words that carry most meaning.
How to do it
FOUR HABITS TO TRY
Edit for the eye,
then for the ear.
None of this needs special software. It is about moving the useful words forward and cutting the ones readers skip anyway.
Lead with the answer
Put the most important points in the first two paragraphs, in the inverted pyramid style, conclusion first.
Write headings that inform
Make them descriptive, not clever, and start them with the words that carry most meaning.
Split long sentences
GOV.UK suggests splitting sentences over 25 words and keeping paragraphs to 5 sentences or fewer.
Swap long words for short ones
Use “buy” not “purchase” and “help” not “assist”. Explain a specialist term the first time you use it.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Most visitors skim,
few read it all.
One figure on how people approach a page,
one on how much of it they have time to read.
79%
Test users who always scanned a new page
In Nielsen Norman Group's research on how people read websites, 79% of test users always scanned any new page, and only 16% read word by word.
SCANNING · NN/G
≈ 20%
Share of words read on an average visit
Analysing page-view data, NN/G estimated users have time to read at most 28% of the words on an average page, with about 20% more realistic. GOV.UK's guidance quotes the same 20 to 28% range.
WORDS READ · NN/G
The same analysis found people spent only about 4.4 seconds longer for each extra 100 words on a page, and read half the information only on pages of 111 words or fewer.
A QUICK PARAGRAPH TEST
Same facts,
five ways to write them.
Researchers wrote the same short travel paragraph five ways and measured how well people could use each version. Pick a style to see how it scored against the promotional original.
From a Nielsen Norman Group usability study of web writing (1997). The bar shows the measured usability gain.
PLAIN ENGLISH
Simple words suit
expert readers too.
GOV.UK makes plain English mandatory because many readers struggle with complex text: its guidance cites studies finding 1 in 6 adults in England have very poor literacy skills.
It also says people with higher literacy prefer plain English, because it lets them understand quickly. In research on legal documents it cites, 80% of people preferred sentences written in clear English.
In conversation
Questions people ask
Do people really not read blog posts?
Many skim. In early usability research, 79% of test users always scanned a new page and only 16% read word by word. Later page-view data suggested people read about 20% of the words on an average page.
What is the F-shaped reading pattern?
Eyetracking showed people often read across the top of the text, then a shorter line lower down, then scan down the left side. NN/G says it happens most on walls of text with no headings, bold or bullets.
How long should a sentence be?
GOV.UK's writing guidance says to try to split sentences over 25 words and keep paragraphs to no more than 5 sentences. It sets no fixed page length: a short page full of jargon is still too long.
How long should a blog title be?
GOV.UK asks for titles of 65 characters or fewer, including spaces, because Google cuts off the rest of a title at around 65 characters. Use the words your readers would search for.
Should headings be questions?
GOV.UK advises against it: question headings are hard to frontload and readers want answers. Its guidance says headings should be descriptive, frontloaded and removable, so the text still makes sense without them.
Sources
Each figure on this page comes from the sources below.
- Nielsen Norman Group: How Users Read on the Web
- Nielsen Norman Group: How Little Do Users Read?
- Nielsen Norman Group: F-Shaped Pattern of Reading on the Web
- GOV.UK content guidance: Write in clear language
- GOV.UK content guidance: Give content a clear structure
- GOV.UK content guidance: Write clear titles