Many believe that the F-shaped curve "proves" that people don't read on the web, but emerging research demonstrates that this may not be really true. So... its let's stop blaming the victim and try to understand the cause the cause. When designers embraced the psychology of color and attention, or learned how design choices make pages easy or harder to interact with, page design improved. Similarly, when designers understand the factors that influence readability, content becomes easier to read, understand and interact with. This talk goes beyond plain language guidelines to help attendees understand the psychology of reading, and how to apply it to create content that is easy to read, understand, remember and act on. Participants learn How reading works When and why reading gets hard Techniques and tools that help designers create readable and memorable content Methods to measure readability and the impact of improving it

1. Reading between the words:
The psychology of reading and
how understanding readers improves your content.

2. (This is me.)

3. We have entered the age of content.
Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People
"...improve how information is presented to
consumers, borrowers, program beneficiaries, and
other individuals, whether as directly conveyed by the
agency, or in setting standards for the presentation of
information, by considering how the content, format,
timing, and medium by which information is conveyed
affects comprehension and action by individuals, as
appropriate”

5. iteracy is still a problem

6. We have limited cognitive workspace.

7. We delude ourselves about content on the web.

8. The goal of writing

10. The mechanics of reading

12. How design influences reading …

13. Text and reading
Reading involves
• Recognizing the words
• Integrating to the words
• Figuring out who was doing what to whom
• Tracking to the right next line

14. Bottom-up processing: Recognizing the letters

15. Bottom-up processing: Recognizing the letters
8 point
10 point
12 point
14 point
16 point
18 point

16. Bottom-up processing: Recognizing the letters

17. Bottom-up processing: Recognizing the words
E
El
Ele
Elep
Elephant

18. Tracking to the next line
Right justified Fully justified
Reading speed: Left justified > Center/Right > Fully justified
Some believe that this difference between ER and UT
(evaluating it yourself versus observing others) means that
less experienced practitioners can do equally effective UT. All
you have to do is identify where people stumbled, right?
Maybe. If the goal is just to figure out where things are
broken, then it doesn’t take much experience to do usability
testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t really all that
much value to usability testing either. Do you need someone
else to tell you that the interaction is confusing? Usually not.
Some believe that this difference between ER and UT
(evaluating it yourself versus observing others) means that
less experienced practitioners can do equally effective UT. All
you have to do is identify where people stumbled, right?
Maybe. If the goal is just to figure out where things are
broken, then it doesn’t take much experience to do usability
testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t really all that
much value to usability testing either. Do you need someone
else to tell you that the interaction is confusing?
Some believe that this difference between ER and UT
(evaluating it yourself versus observing others) means that
less experienced practitioners can do equally effective UT. All
you have to do is identify where people stumbled, right?
Maybe. If the goal is just to figure out where things are
broken, then it doesn’t take much experience to do usability
testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t really all that
much value to usability testing either. Do you need someone
else to tell you that the interaction is confusing? Usually not.
Some believe that this difference between ER and UT
(evaluating it yourself versus observing others) means that
less experienced practitioners can do equally effective UT. All
you have to do is identify where people stumbled, right?
Maybe. If the goal is just to figure out where things are
broken, then it doesn’t take much experience to do usability
testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t really all that
much value to usability testing either. Do you need someone
else to tell you that the interaction is confusing? Usually not.
Left justified Center justified

19. Some believe that this difference between ER and
UT (evaluating it yourself versus observing others)
means that less experienced practitioners can do
equally effective UT. All you have to do is identify
where people stumbled, right? Maybe. If the goal is
just to figure out where things are broken, then it
doesn’t take much experience to do usability
testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t
really all that much value to usability testing either.
Do you need someone else to tell you that the
interaction is confusing? Usually not.
Some believe that this difference between ER and
UT (evaluating it yourself versus observing others)
means that less experienced practitioners can do
equally effective UT. All you have to do is identify
where people stumbled, right? Maybe. If the goal is
just to figure out where things are broken, then it
doesn’t take much experience to do usability
testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t
really all that much value to usability testing either.
Do you need someone else to tell you that the
interaction is confusing? Usually not.

20. Some believe that this difference between ER and UT (evaluating it
yourself versus observing others) means that less experienced
practitioners can do equally effective UT. All you have to do is identify
where people stumbled, right? Maybe. If the goal is just to figure out
where things are broken, then it doesn’t take much experience to do
usability testing. On that approach, however, there isn’t really all that
much value to usability testing either. Do you need someone else to tell
you that the interaction is confusing? Usually not.

21. ine length
• Users read most efficiently with newspaper column length
(55-60 characters per line)
• Poor readers do best with even shorter lines: ~ 7-9 words pe
line (49-54 characters/line)
• Younger readers prefer/do better with shorter lines.
Why?
• Too long is hard because of the long regressive saccade
• Too short is hard because there are too many regressive
saccades

22. So what?

23. Bottom-up strategies to make reading easier.
http://www.asym.co/

24. Easier to read = easier to act on
Text-formatted copy
results in 12 % increase in
Click-throughs on mobile
devices over standard
text formatting
across 552k impressions

26. The mechanics of understanding…

27. Readers understand based on habits
Active sentences
Noun Verb Noun
The dog chased the cat.
Doer Action to Do-ee
Habits that apply here
1. N-V-N
2. Dogs chase cats

28. Passives
Noun Verb Noun
The dog was chased by the cat

29. Top-down processing: Understanding the message messages
John said he really wants to
stop at the bank today
before he gets on the train.
If you know John is in Paris,
this might mean something
different.

30. Top-down processing: Understanding the message messages

31. Cohesion at the discourse level.
y thesis was about exactly this. (!)

32. Cohesion matters.*But not even linguist know how to describe cohesion in a measurable way.
Coh-metrix: http://cohmetrix.com/

33. Attributes of cohesion
• Shared discourse model
• Word overlap across sentences
• Order of words
• Pronouns

34. Are there rules to live by?

35. Gricean rules of implicature
Maxim of Quality. Make your contribution true; so do not
convey what you believe false or unjustified. (Say the truth.)

36. Gricean rules of implicature
Maxim of Quality. Make your contribution true; so do not
convey what you believe false or unjustified. (Say the truth.)
Maxim of Quantity. Be as informative as required. (Say enough

37. Quantity: Say enough (but not too much.)
VUI Example
If you are employed, please contact your
personnel office.
If you have long term health care, please
call 1-800-123-1234. That number again i
1-800-123-1234. Company does not
inform them of your change.
To order the change of address form, pres
1. Enter your id or ssn. You will receive
your form to your current address within
10 days.

38. Gricean rules of implicature
Maxim of Quality. Make your contribution true; so do not
convey what you believe false or unjustified. (Say the truth.)
Maxim of Quantity. Be as informative as required. (Say enough
Maxim of Relation. Be relevant. (Say what matters.)

39. Relation (What matters): Connect the dots
Eyetracking
scanpath
showing
user reading a
long text-y page
carefully.

40. Relation (What matters): Gated-guided paths

41. Relation (What matters): Educating users
Eyetracking
scanpath
showing
user reading a
long text-y page
carefully.

42. The Gricean rules of implicature
Maxim of Quality. Make your contribution true; so do not
convey what you believe false or unjustified. (Say the truth.)
Maxim of Quantity. Be as informative as required. (Say enough
Maxim of Relation. Be relevant. (Say what matters.)
Maxim of Manner. Be perspicuous; so avoid obscurity and
ambiguity, and strive for brevity and order. (Say it right.)

43. Jargon is not
always bad….

44. How do we know if we got it right?

45. We know if and only if we test: Content testing
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 98 10
Target = 80%
recall
p://bit.ly/1PkWx9C

46. We know if and only if we test: Confidence testing
Could you describe the Donate my Data program to a family member or
friend?
a. I can describe both the idea and the details to someone else, and get
them all right.
b. I can describe it mostly, but I might get some of the details wrong.
c. I can describe the general idea, but not the details.
d. I wouldn’t try to describe this to someone else.

47. Usability people
UX/Design types
“Content is not our job,
its their job”
Content types
“We are writers,
not researchers”
Who is responsible for testing?

49. Takeaways
• People WILL (and increasingly need to) read on the web.
• Understanding how people read helps you make better
decisions about content design
• You will need to understand what people know before you
know what to say
• What do people know?
• What do people not know?
• What do people want to know?
• What will persuade them?
• What you think you say and what they hear … may be
different. You wont know unless you test.

50. Author contact information
Kath Straub
kath@usability.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathstraub
@kathstraub