Comments on: Quick blog Idea: Make your blog more readable with narrower columns

By: Taneem Sarwar

Taneem Sarwar — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:12:34 +0000

Exactly what you have been discussing in you blog had crossed my mind a lot. With many companies that use the Internet to sell goods and feature product reviews, are always advised to follow two steps: Keep the text simple and Keep it short and to the point.
If you have a complicated subject, then I think its a brilliant idea as suggested in the blog to narrow the column size. i have been seriously toying with idea of using justified column. Although I do not know if that is a good or idea? Any Opinions or advice is greatly welcome.
Taneem Sarwar´s last blog ..What to eat on the Six Pack Diet?

By: Mike Korner

Mike Korner — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:57:36 +0000

I must say that I find your blog visually pleasing and extremely easy to read Jim. Based on that, I’d say your 85 seems right on.

Of course, as you noted, typeface and font size do come into play with readability, as does color. Using a san serif font like Arial greatly improves readability on screen, and it’s funny how I like a larger font as my eyes get older You color choices are excellent, too.

I have noticed that some sites (including the BBC) are adding the ability for readers to adjust the font size for their individual comfort. That is a nice touch.

As for character counts, I’m dating myself by mentioning this but this post got me thinking back to my old high school newspaper days when print/type was manually set. Each column had a strict character count that we (as editors) had to worry about. We even had to concern ourselves with the size of the letters, too, as a capital “W” required more space than a small “a”). Ah, the good old days of typewriters and manual typesetting. Not!

Thanks for sharing this information. Much appreciated!

By: David Rogers

David Rogers — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:10:25 +0000

Its getting late here and I’m going cross eyed counting, but I recon I use 89/90. Thanks – not something that would ever have occurred to me.

By: Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:58:19 +0000

Thanks for the feedback.

What I tweeted about this post, someone made a great point – which was that the print media have already done millions of dollars worth of research. We know that under that magical 80/85, your content’s easier to read and focus on.

Our personal preferences are important, but if we genuinely want our content to be as readable as possible, it’s common sense to listen to what the experts tell us.

By: Jim Connolly

Jim Connolly — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:51:34 +0000

Hi Corey!

The width in pixels is less relevant. That’s because depending on the size and type of font you use, it could be 60 characters wise or 120.

It’s the maximum number of characters / words you have on each line that counts.

70 characters means that the width of the column should hold 70 characters, before it cuts the text to go to the next line.

For example, the first line of your comment was around 72 characters (Including spaces and punctuation)

Hope that helps.

By: Annemieke

Annemieke — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:13:50 +0000

I indeed like it more if the content column is rather narrow. I like that on blogs but also on forums.

For my own blog it is about the right balance between a narrow width and enough place for text beside the picture. I like it more if the text width is wider than the picture, but that is just personal preference.

Still I think mine is more than 85 characters because I use a relatively small font.

But I always notice that balance on other blogs.
Annemieke´s last blog ..Critical about Criticism

By: Corey Freeman

Corey Freeman — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:13:50 +0000

Interesting idea. I’ll have to give this a try. I’m not really sure how wide 70 characters is. Do you have pixels you could share?

Corey
Corey Freeman´s last blog ..Why Is Everyone So Angry?

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Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:08:59 +0000

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