Online reading causes dry eyes, blurred vision Thanks to our obsession with screens, there's now a diagnosis known as digital eyestrain. (Not to be confused with screen sightedness (Rev Up Readership members only; join Rev Up Readership).) People who spend hours staring at screens — and that's your online audience, right? — suffer chemical changes in their … [Read more...] about Site for sore eyes
Web writing
Are you giving your readers e-somnia?
Bedtime screen reading keeps folks up all night Here's one more obstacle to reaching readers online: Reading that email or blog post before bedtime can literally cause your readers to lose sleep. At least, that's what researchers from Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women's Hospital say. The researchers observed folks reading an e-book on an iPad for four … [Read more...] about Are you giving your readers e-somnia?
Activate the passive voice online
Write subject-verb-object People understand the active voice more easily than the passive voice. According to Jan H. Spyridakis, author of "Guidelines for Authoring Comprehensible Web Pages," people: Remember active sentences verbatim better than passive ones. (Blount and Johnson, 1971) Read active sentences faster than passive ones. That may be because active … [Read more...] about Activate the passive voice online
Pass the dollar-bill test
If it looks easier to read, more people will read it One technique for making sure even a long story looks easy to read is to use Edmund Arnold's dollar-bill test. Arnold, a journalist and design consultant for more than 50 years, said that no chunk of copy should stretch longer than and wider than a dollar bill. Break copy up. To keep copy chunks short and … [Read more...] about Pass the dollar-bill test
Skimm this!
Make your e-zine interesting, relevant, easy What's the secret to a successful e-zine? Make 'em laugh; make 'em think; make 'em Skimm. In other words, make it interesting, relevant and easy. That's the formula e-zine the Skimm uses. You can steal a trick from the Skimm and produce an e-zine that's: Interesting The Skimm makes the news fun to read, from the … [Read more...] about Skimm this!