Readability

Everyday more and more functionality becomes available on the web. Multimedia web pages can be very appealing, but can also be very distracting if used inappropriately. The readability portion of WebSAT checks a web page to see what distracters are present. If the web page contains numerous animations, scrolling or blinking text, etc., user testing is advised to ensure that these techniques do not distract the users from actually concentrating on the information in the text.

The density of information on a page affects the readability of that page also. In printed matter, white space and highlighting techniques, such as the use of bold or larger font sizes, are used to direct the readers’ attention to important material. Links are an important piece of information on web pages, so it is desirable to make links standout. Having many links and relatively little regular text on a web page makes it more difficult to locate a particular link.

Web pages should be of a size such that users do not have to scroll more than three or four times to reach the end of the section. Horizontal lines across a web page might also give users the impression that the end of the page has been reached.

Web pages are viewed by users using many different browsers. Having tags that are specific to one browser means that users viewing your page with a different browser will have a different experience.

The Readability section of WebSAT checks for possible distracters. It should be noted that the presence of these distracters is just a warning that a usability problem might exist. Usability experts should be consulted and/ or user testing should be done to determine if usability problems do indeed exist.

Checklist for Readability
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The following table contains the checks performed by WebSAT along with the problems that might be caused by failure to provide the indicated html. For more information, see readability guidelines.

Html check	Potential problem
Rule: Try to limit the density of the web page. WebSAT returns: # of words displayed as links/ total number of words.	The more links present on a page, the more difficult it is to locate a specific link. A good rule of thumb to use to avoid over use of links can be found in the CHI97 paper on "Designing Usable and Visually Appealing Web Sites."
Rule: Limit scrolling text, blinking text,and marquee style text on your web pages. WebSAT returns: # of text objects that are animated	Highlighting (as in scrolling, blinking, marquee style) should be used in moderation. The more highlighting that occurs, the more difficult it becomes for the user to locate important information and to read stationary text. A supporting reference on avoiding such web page features can be found in Common Web Page Design Mistakes.
Rule: Do not use horizontal lines across the web page. WebSAT returns: # of horizontal lines across the web page	Users might be confused and think they have reached the end of the web page when a horizontal line is placed across the page. For readability issues concerning the use of horizontal lines, see the discussion on horizontal lines, icons and other graphical images.

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Page last modified: 15 May 2002
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)