One of the psychology experiment says that “You Read Faster With a longer Line Length But
Prefer Shorter”
Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1338100
Have you ever had to
decide how wide a column of text you should use on a screen? Should you use a
wide column with 100 characters per line? or a short column with 50 characters
per line?
It turns out that the answer depends on
whether you want people to read faster or whether you want them to like the
page!
Research demonstrates that 100 characters per
line is the optimal length for on-screen reading speed; but it’s not what
people prefer. People read faster with longer line lengths (100 characters per
line), but they prefer a short or medium line length (45 to 72 characters per
line). In the example above from the New York Times Reader, the line length
averages 39 characters per line.
The research also shows that people can read
one single wide column faster than multiple columns, but they prefer multiple
columns (like the New York Times Reader above).
So if you ask people which they prefer they
will say multiple columns with short line lengths. Interestingly, if you ask
them which they read faster, they will insist it is also the multiple columns
with short line lengths, even though the data shows otherwise.
It’s a quandary: Do you give people what they
prefer or go against their own preference and intuition, knowing that they will
read faster if you use a longer line length and one column?
What would you do?
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