UI Design Newsletter - FebMar09

8/9/2019 UI Design Newsletter - FebMar09

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Kindle2: Crack for readers... until you start reading

How text formatting can ruin (or enhance)

the readability and persuasiveness of text

Kath Straub, PhD, CUA / Chief Scientist

Human Factors International, Inc.

February / March, 2009

Newsletter

Human Factors

I n t e r n a t i o n a l


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Newsletter February / March 2009 2

Maybeitwastheearlyadopterthing.Curiosityaboutnewgadgets.Wanting

totouch.Toplay.Todecideifthatnewlittlethingwillbethenextbigthing.

Maybeitwastheroad-warriorreaderthing:

Itravelalot.AndIreadalot.Whichbook

shouldItake?

Maybeitwastheattentiondeficitthing.

Readingonebookatatimegets... boring.

Andallthosebooksgetheavy.

Howeveryouexplainit,IownaKindle2.

Itsbeenaninterestingride.Imready

togetoffthebike.

Tobesure,partofthefunofKindleisthatAmazonhadtobalancealot

ofdesignoptions.Forinstance,theytriedtocreateanunpacking-the-product-

should-be-emotionalexperience.ForanApplenative,thatwasabitweird.

Somehow,thepull-offpaperzipper(thinkFedEXenvelopes)setsthewrong

tone.But,theytried.

Outofthebox,myfirstimpressionwaspositive.ItssmallerthanIthought.

ThetextresolutionisbetterthanIhadhoped.

Butthen,thereisnobacklight.Thatmeansthebatterylastsareallylongtime.

Butitalsomeansthatthescreenissurprisinglygreyandthetextcontrast

islow.Andyoustillneedanightlighttoread.

Thekeyboardletsyouannotatewhileyouread.Butitsawkward.Big.That

choiceseemedoddsincethebiggerkeyboardmeantasmallerreadingscreen.

Wearealltrainedtotypeonphone-sizedkeyboardsbynow,arentwe?

Navigatingisntbad.ThefactthattheMenubuttontakesyoutoShopAt

theKindleStoreisirritating.EvenifIunderstandwhyitsso.Thejoystickoffers

afewsurprises,likeyoucantturnpageswithit.

May you live

in interesting times

You say red herring,

I say red herrings


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Buttheseproblemsareredherring(s). Kindleisntreallyaboutunpackingand

navigating.Itsaboutreading.Unfortunately,thereadingpartiswhereAmazongoeswrong.

ItwasasmalldetailintheKindleadthattippedmydecisiontotryit.

Unlessyouvespentyearsthinkingaboutthepsychologyofreading,you

probablywontnoticeit.

Thetextontherightsideofthepageisnotright-justified.Ithasaragged-rightedge.Andthat,forme,wastantalizing.

Injustified text, thesizeofspacesbetweenwords isvaried tomake the lines

comeouteven(likeinthisparagraph). Thesizeofthespacesisirregularbutnot

meaningful.Thegoal isjust tomake the linescome outeven.Butyourbrain

registers that the spaces are different sizes. And it tries to sort out what

that information conveys. Trying to interpret signals that arejustnoise slows

youdownandmakesreadingfeelmoreeffortful.

Itmayseemcounter-intuitivethatasmalldetaillikewherelinesendwould

maketexteasiertoread.Ifitstrue,whydopublishersofbooks,journals,

magazinesandnewspapersright-justifyeverything?Itsaquestionthat

alotofuswhothinkaboutreadingthinkabout,alot.

Step away

from the edge

Just because you can,

doesnt mean

you should


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Ourmostcharitableguessisthatpublishersthinkthatjustified

textlooksbetter.Itdoes.Ifyoulikerectangles.Buttheresearchshowsthatpeoplereadragged-rightcopyfasterthanright-

justifiedcopy(Hartley& Burnhill,1971;Jandreau& Bever,1992).

So,tojustifyornottojustifydependsonwhetherthe goalis

aprettierpageoraneasierread.

Ivoteforeasiertoread.AndthatiswhyIwasenticedby

theraggedyedgedKindlead.

AndthefirstpublicationIopened(theNewYorker)liveduptothepromise:

Hertzberg,inraggedright.Withthecartoonsthoughtfullyaggregatedintoone

section. Joy.

ButthesecondoneIopened(Nudge;ImprovingDecisionsaboutHealth,Wealth

andHappiness), andthethird,fourth,fifth,andsixth(WhiteTiger,anovel;Iwas

toldtheredbecake,essays;TechnologyReview;andtheWallStreetJournal,respectively)allhaveright-justifiedtext.Gainthebuyerstrust.Violatethebuy-

erstrust.

Tobefair,itmaynotbeAmazonthatismakingthechoice.Buttheycould.And

ifanysinglegroupcanmakereadingbetter,itisAmazon.Well,maybeAmazon

andReadSmart.

Actually,theresmoretoenhancingreadabilitythanwherelinesend.

Rememberhowtherandomsizeofspacesbetweenwordsinright-justifiedtext

underminesreading?Thereverseisalsotrue.Beverandcolleagues,linguists

andpsychologistsattheUniversityofArizona,haveshownthatwhenline

endingsandspacesizesoffercluestohowwordsshouldbegrouped,reading

isfasterandfeelseasier(Bever,Jandreau,Burwell,Kaplan& Zaenan,1990;

Jandreau& Bever,1992;amongmanyothers.)

Toshowthis,Beverandteamengineered(andpatented)atextprocessing/formattingalgorithm(whichtheycallReadSmart)thatreadstextinputand

adjustsinter-andintra-wordspacingbasedonpsychologicallytested,linguistic

rules.Thenew,meaningfulspacesguidereaderseyesandhelpthemtogroup

thewordscorrectlyevenastheyread. ReadSmartedtextiseasiertoread

One stop

past the end

of the line...


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becausepartofworkofreadingisalreadydoneforyou.Butunlikeothertext

formattingalgorithms,ReadSmartimprovesreadabilitywithoutchangingthelengthofthetextorthewaythatitlooksonthesurface.

Beversearlystudiesoflinguisticformatting(includingmorethan500students

intheU.S.andabroad)showedthatwhenthespacesbetween/ withinwords

predictthestructure,comprehensionandreadingspeedincreaseupto20%.

Similarcomprehensionimprovementshavebeen documentedforreaders

underduressandsecond-languagereaders.

Morerecentindustrystudiessuggestthatimprovingreadabilityandcomprehen-sionmayalsoincreasepersuasiveness.Thescenariosupposedlygoessomething

likethis:

1. Apotentialdonorreceivessolicitationletters.Iftheylikethecause,

theymayopentheletter.

2. Iftheyopenthem,theytendtoskim,foraboutaslongasittakes

togetfromthefrontdoor/ mailboxtothekitchen/ trashcan.

3. SinceReadsmartedtextreadsfasterandmoreeasily,potentialdonors

getfurtherintothemessagetotheemotionalhookthatremoves

theblockoramplifiestheirdrivetowardcommitment.

4. Alongtheway,sincethecognitiveburdenofreadingisreduced

byReadSmartingtext,readerscancommitmorementalenergy

toprocessingandrememberingthemessage.Rememberedmessages

aremorepersuasive.

Evenifthescenarioisnotexactlyright,theeffectofformattingtexttoimprove

readabilityisprofound.Directmaildonoracquisitionlettersthatareformatted

byReadSmartworkbetter.Inameta-analysisof5directmarketingcampaigns

reaching393,000households(overmultiplecharities), theformattedletters

triggered22%moreresponsesthandonorletterswith standardtext.And,

peoplewhorespondedtoaformattedsolicitationultimatelydonatedmore

(48%moreonaverage)1.

Its much morepersuasive if I read it

1Tobesure,thescaleofthebehaviorchangeresultingfromReadSmartingtextmakes

itfeelabitlikeabut-wait!-theresmore!paid-for-TV commercial.Idbe farmoreskep-

tical,ifIdidnthave directknowledgeofthepsycholinguistic researchbehind text-format-

tinggenerallyandReadSmartspecifically. (Fairbalance:Beverwasmythesisadvisor.)


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Ultimately,linguistically-informedtextformattingalgorithmslikeReadSmart

maketextmorepersuasivebyreducingthementalburdenofreading.Readersunderstandbetterwithlesseffort.Byextension,organizationsandagencies

thatapplythesealgorithmscanbenefitaswell.Andthatpromisemakes

ReadSmarttantalizing.

SortofliketheKindle2was.Andcouldbeagain.IfAmazonmadeReadSmart

mybookthedefaultmenuitem.Untilthen,Imgoingbacktopaperbacks.

[TheReadSmarttextformattingalgorithmimprovesreadabilityonpaper,

infixed-widthwebsites,andonmobilephones.Tolearnmoregoto

www.readsmart.com.]

Helpusmakethenewslettermorerelevanttoyou... andwinaniPodshuffle...

thattalkstoyou!

Please take4quickminutestoanswerour10questionsurveyaboutthenews-

letter.Telluswhatyoulike/dontlikeaboutthenewsletter.Whichtopicswould

youliketoreadabout?

And,ifyougiveuscontactinformation,youwillautomaticallybeenteredinto

ourshuffledrawing. www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09The iPod shuffle drawing will be held on Friday, April 3, 2009.

Weknowthatifuserscantfindit,theycantbepersuadedbyit.Butthisgoes

abitbeyond.Itshowsthatiftheusermustworkhardtogettocontent(even

inasmalldetailliketextquality)itcanmakeamaterialimpactonpersuasion.

Usabilityisnolongerenough,butitisabsolutelyneeded.

More than

meets the eye

Its not just small talk!

The Pragmatic

Ergonomist,

Dr. Eric Schaffer
http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09http://www.readsmart.com/http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/114074/newsletter-march09


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Anglin,J.M., & Miller,G.A. (1968). Theroleofphrasestructureintherecall

ofmeaningfulverbalmaterial.PsychonomicScience,10,343344.

Bever,T.G., & Robbart,J. (2008). Systemandmethodofdeterminingphrasing

intext.U.S.PatentNo.7,346,489.Washington,DC:U.S.PatentandTrademark

Office.

Bever,T.G., & Robbart,J. (2008). Systemandmethodforformattingtext

accordingtophrasing.Patentpending.Washington,DC:U.S.Patentand

TrademarkOffice.

Bever,T.G., & Robbart,J. (2006). Systemandmethodforformattingtext

accordingtolinguistic,visualandpsychologicalvariables.U.S.PatentNo.7,069,508.Washington,DC:U.S.PatentandTrademarkOffice.

Bever,T.G., Nicholas,C.D., Hancock,R., Alcock,K.W., & Jandreau,S.M.

(2007). System,plug-inandmethodforimprovingtextcompositionbymodify-

ingcharacterprominenceaccordingtoassignedcharacterinformationmea-

sures.Patentpending.Washington,DC:U.S.PatentandTrademarkOffice.

Bever,T.G., Jandreau,S., Burwell,R. , Kaplan,R., & Zaenan,A. (1990). Spacing

printedtexttoisolatemajorphrasesimprovesreadability.VisibleLanguage,25,

7487.

Coleman,E.B., & Kim,I. (1961). Comparisonofseveralstylesoftypographyin

English.JournalofAppliedPsychology,45,262267.

Hartley,J. (1980). Spatialcuesintext.VisibleLanguage,14,6779.

Hartley,J., & Burnhill,P. (1971). Experimentswithunjustifiedtext.Visible

Language,5,265278.

Jandreau,S., & Bever,T.G. (1992). Phrase-spacedformatsimprovecomprehen-

sioninaveragereaders.JournalofAppliedPsychology,77,143146.Nicholas,C.D., Maher,J.Ashley,K.L., Berendt,L.H. (2009). Systemandmeth-

odforconvertingthedigitaltypesettingdocumentsusedinpublishingtoa

device-specificformatforelectronicpublishing.Patentpending.Washington,

DC:U.S.PatentandTrademarkOffice.

References


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Klare,G.R., Nichols,W.H., & Shufford,E.H. (1957). Therelationshipoftypo-

graphicarrangementtothelearningoftechnicalmaterial.JournalofAppliedPsychology,41,4145.

Mason,J.M., & Kendall,J.R. (1979). Facilitatingreadingcomprehension

throughtextstructuremanipulation.TheAlbertaJournalofEducationalResearch,25,6876.

North,A.J., & Jenkins,L.B. (1951). Readingspeedandcomprehension

asafunctionoftypography.JournalofAppliedPsychology,35,225228.


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KathStraubguidesorganizationsandagenciestodesigncommunication

andinteractionssystemsthatinform,educate,andshapekeybehaviors.Tothat

end,sheintegratesmulti-disciplinaryresearchmethodstouncoverthe

psychologicalandemotionaldrivesandbarriersthatinformhumanattitudes,

decisions,andbehaviors.Mostrecently,Kathsinterestshaveshiftedtounder-

standinghowemergingcommunicationmethods(e.g., microblogging)andtech-

nologies(e.g., mobile)augmenttheexistinginformationecosystemandevolve

consumer/citizenexpectationsandbehavior.Sheappliesthisknowledgetohelp

organizationsdevelopoutreachstrategies,andtoproactivelyassimilateand

drawuponthenewchannelsandchangingbehaviors.Electronicchannelsare

replacingthepicketfenceswe usedtogossipover.Isyourorganization

ready?

KathStraubistheChiefScientistandExecutiveDirectorofHumanFactors

International.SheholdsaPh.D.inBrainandCognitiveSciencefromthe

UniversityofRochester(NY). ShehasbeenrecognizedbyFederalComputer

WeekMagazineasaRisingStarinGovernment.

About the author Kath Straub, PhD, CUAChief ScientistHuman Factors International


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410 West Lowe, P.O. Box 2020

Fairfield, IA 52556

Phone: 800.242.4480

Fax: 641.472.5412

[email protected]

www.humanfactors.com

2009 Human Factors International, Inc.

Human Factors

I n t e r n a t i o n a l

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