Reused by Catalyst Resources with permission from SCVO.
<aside> 💪🏼 Difficulty level: easy
Estimated time to complete: 30 mins per page (up to 3 pages)
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<aside> 👋🏽 This task will help you write and layout your website’s most important pages in ways that match how most people read on the internet.
It will make it easy for people to find information on these pages if they are in a rush or scanning a page. It will also help people who find reading difficult.
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<aside> 💁🏾♀️ Tip: add this page to your web browser’s bookmarks. That way you can easily find it again.
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Eyetracking research shows that people read in different ways on the web.
They read in an F pattern if a page is mainly just paragraphs of text.
First they read horizontally across the upper part of a content area.
Next they move down the page a bit and then read horizontally again. Usually they will read less than before. Then they scan the left side in a vertical movement. They are looking for keywords or information they need.
Understanding this pattern can help us present content on a page in a way that makes it easy for people to find what they need. If done well it can change their reading pattern and help them take in the information you want to give them.
Find a page on your website that is important for your users. It should be a page that is mainly written content, rather than a homepage or landing page.
Then log into your website’s content management system.
Look at your first paragraph or two of text. If either are long then break them up into shorter paragraphs.
Now make sure that the key information people are most likely to need can be found in the first few lines. Prioritise 1 piece of information per paragraph, e.g. one sentence summary, times, location etc
Break up any other long paragraphs. Bring key information to the start.
Add subheadings describing or summarising each paragraph or collection of paragraphs. These subheadings help people as they scan vertically down the side of a page.