What is Readability?
Probably the most common question we get asked is the most obvious one of all - what is readability? For most people, readability isn't something that factors into their work. But when they find out that as little as 80% of the general public read at an eighth grade level, it quickly becomes a significant concern.
Fundamentally, that's what readability is - how easy something is to read. Measurements and theories of readability cover a huge set of factors, including (but not limited to):
Syllable density
Sentence length
Familiarity of words
Font face choice
Font sizing
Text colour and contrast
Line length
Punctuation
Engagement
The impact of poor readability on the success of content is significant, and that is becoming more apparent as the river of content we all experience grows into more of a torrent. Attention spans are decreasing. Distractions are increasing. The 280 character tweet is taking over from the 2000 word article.
With all that in mind, it's incredibly important that, in addition to writing interesting and engaging content, you write it in a way that people find easy to take in. So people are turning to software, not as a replacement for editorial expertise, but as a complement to it. A computer can quickly use algorithms like the Flesch Reading Ease or the Gunning Fog index to spot problematic passages of text. And that's where we come in.
At Readable.io, we are fascinated - almost obsessed - with readability. We are always looking at more ways to measure it, more ways to recommend improvements, and more ways to help our customers make readability scoring and analysis a core part of their content management strategies. Our software can analyse anything you can throw at it, from Word documents to entire websites, and help you focus your efforts where they are going to have the maximum impact.
Try ReadablePro!
Fundamentally, that's what readability is - how easy something is to read. Measurements and theories of readability cover a huge set of factors, including (but not limited to):
Syllable density
Sentence length
Familiarity of words
Font face choice
Font sizing
Text colour and contrast
Line length
Punctuation
Engagement
The impact of poor readability on the success of content is significant, and that is becoming more apparent as the river of content we all experience grows into more of a torrent. Attention spans are decreasing. Distractions are increasing. The 280 character tweet is taking over from the 2000 word article.
With all that in mind, it's incredibly important that, in addition to writing interesting and engaging content, you write it in a way that people find easy to take in. So people are turning to software, not as a replacement for editorial expertise, but as a complement to it. A computer can quickly use algorithms like the Flesch Reading Ease or the Gunning Fog index to spot problematic passages of text. And that's where we come in.
At Readable.io, we are fascinated - almost obsessed - with readability. We are always looking at more ways to measure it, more ways to recommend improvements, and more ways to help our customers make readability scoring and analysis a core part of their content management strategies. Our software can analyse anything you can throw at it, from Word documents to entire websites, and help you focus your efforts where they are going to have the maximum impact.
Try ReadablePro!
Updated on: 07/04/2020
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