Clear Language and Readability

Zurich Content Strategy MeetupSeptember 24 2013

What makes language clear?What makes texts readable?

The obvious basics

ReadabilityThe quality of written language that makes it easy to read and understand.

Representational elements that make reading difficult

• Small type, long lines, insufficient contrast.

• Long paragraphs with no segmentation

• Clutter.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.

Linguistic elements that help reading:• short words, short sentences.• familiar terms over technical terms• Syntactic simplicity: • no dependent clauses (Nebensätze)• Split up compound words:

Parkettbodenschleifmaschinenenverleihfirma• Don‘t use machine-readable IDs for

idetification of elements. (IBAN, Error Codes)

High level elements that help.• coherence• consistency• Illustrations and diagrams • redundancy

Familiarity: Fitting the target audience• The language used must reflect the target

audience• You can only make it harder for everybody• Know for who you have to make it really

easy.• Don‘t buy into the

„Kompetenzvermutung“ nonsense. It‘s a trap.

Measuring Readability:Fry readability graph

Aver

age

sent

ence

s / 1

00 w

ords

Average amount of syllables / 100 words

Measuring Readability:Flesch-Reading-Ease

FREen = 206.835 - ( 1.015 · ASL) - (85.6 · ASW)

FREde = 180 - ASL - (58.5 · ASW)

ASL = Average Sentence Length: Total words / total sentences

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbarkeitsindex

ASW = Average number of Syllables per Word Total syllables / total words

What users want

• Gain overview• Scan the content• Make decision „Is this for me?“

Users don‘t read, they skim• Users won't read your text

thoroughly in a word-by-word manner

• The first two paragraphs must state the most important information.

People scan web pages in an F-shaped pattern

Make it scannable

• Break down texts into concise paragraphs

• Offer headings to paragraphs

Signal vs Noise ratioThe ratio of relevant to irrelevant information should be as high as possible.

PENDENTPENDENTPENDENTEmpfänger Fällig Betrag

Krankenkassse Helsana 25.09.2013 235.65

UPC Cablecom 30.09.2013 76.50

GE Money Bank 08.10.2013 56.80

PendentPendent

Krankenkassse Helsana25.09.2013

235.65

UPC Cablecom30.09.2013

76.50

GE Money Bank08.10.2013

56.80

ClarityPlain language

Not ambiguoussimpleto the taskno fillers

This is a Swiss Ballot Paper for a referendum. The question asked has always this simple form.

This is from the brochure accompanying the referendum.

Short sentences.

ScannableSubheads

A far less readable ballot paper for a local referendum on a public credit.

This is an Italian ballot paper on a change of legislation regarding electoral lists.The question contains every passage of the legislation that is being changed.

Workflow

Writing is rewriting.

Revision is where the magic happens.

Establish a workflow

• Establish the workflow before the project starts

• Discuss the Brand:voice / identity / existing materialWhat is the message?

• Who is in charge, who is not?• How many revisions are there going to be? • Who has the last word and why.

Links

• True writing is rewritinghttp://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue9/true.htm

• Wikipedia on Readability measurements: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesbarkeitsindex

• Kate Kiefer: Voice and Tonehttp://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2013/09/17/kate-kiefer-lee-voice-and-tone-live/