Thursday, you read about the CRAP design principles, and yesterday, you read about the F-shaped reading pattern. Today’s #WeekendWatch expands on those ideas by looking at a specific document design and organization strategy.

Our #WeekendWatch video discusses how including clear headings, subheadings, and links helps readers navigate your document by providing information-rich signposts. Listen for a reference in the video to the F-shaped reading pattern, which these document features support.

The video refers to online documents specifically, but most of these features are useful in printed documents as well. Obviously links are not helpful in printed work. Headings and subheadings certainly are.

Learning to Write for the Web by Chris Nodder (video, 5m22s)

After you watch the video, you can discuss the ideas in the comments.

Eye-tracking studies show that people read online documents in an F-shaped pattern, shown here:

They scan across the top of the page and then down the left side of the page until they find another significant word or phrase that catches their attention. At that point, they scan across the page a bit and then resume scanning down the page a bit. People rarely read everything on the page. They scan and decide in a matter of seconds what action to take next. They may never scroll down the page.

If you are writing documents that people will read online—whether email messages, attached files, or webpages—you need to use document design elements that will put your most important information in the path of the F-shape pattern.

As you consider this study, think about the design strategies that would help readers find the significant information in your messages, and share your ideas in the comments.

Read more

• F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content by Jakob Nielsen
• 10 Useful Findings About How People View Websites by Peep Laja

Photo Credit: Jakob Nielsen’s F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content

Reminder of how today’s posts work
#FridayFact posts will share a specific fact about writing in the workplace, which you can compare to what you know about your field. Usually these facts have an accompanying article that supports or expands on the fact.

 

Today’s Fact

No matter how hard you try to get along, at some point, there will be conflict with the people you work with. Sometimes it’s something incredibly unimportant (“Why can’t Jared ever close the copier lid when he’s finished?”) to something significant (You want the company to go with all Google products and Katryn wants the company to go with all Microsoft). The conflict can be over anything, but you’re guaranteed that there will be times when you have to deal with conflict in the workplace.

This week you have been working on group dynamics as you think about how your writing group will collaborate and set up the ground rules for your interaction, so it’s a good time for us to talk about conflict. That way you are ready to deal with anything that comes up within your writing group as well.

The video Clashing with a Coworker? Here’s What to Do (8m37s) from the Harvard Business Review’s Whiteboard Sessions series discusses the four steps to resolving conflict. After you watch the video, you might comment about how you might apply the strategies that the Amy Gallo (the presenter) shares, or how you have followed some of these strategies in the past. You can, of course, comment on your own topics as well.

Note: This video has closed captioning, so it does not need a transcript.