Readability

Choosing relevant content

When a user lands on your web page, they typically decide in the first 5-8 seconds whether to stay or leave. It's important that your content is straightforward, concise and tailored to your audience.

• consider the primary audience for the page and what they are likely looking to do
• define a call to action (CTA) for each page and make sure it's clear for the user to find
  • e.g., watch a video, fill out a form, email or phone your office
• consider the entire user journey: what steps does your user take to complete a task before they arrive on your site and after they leave?
• leave out "low value" content that doesn't serve your users; this is information that's all about you:
  • mission statements
  • welcome messages
  • archived news, events, meeting notes, etc.

Content audit

Perform a content audit before you start writing and building your website. This will help you identify areas that need improvement. It will also help keep the information relevant to your audience.

Writing web content

For web content to be effective, the writing should be both conversational and scannable.

Conversational content

• think about the types of questions your audience is searching for and incorporate the answers to those questions
• put the focus on the reader with "you" statements
• write in the active voice

Scannable content

How people read online

Decades of research have shown that people rarely read every word online. They are more likely to scan web content, only stopping to read more carefuly under certain conditions.

Write brief & actionable content

Keeping your paragraphs short helps boost comprehension and keeps your reader’s focus.

• paragraphs should be 40-50 words and under 400 characters
• use plenty of headings (h2, h3...) and lists to make it easier for your users to scan
• write in plain language, aiming for a Grade 7-9 Flesch-Kincaid reading level
  • check your content's readability score using the Hemingway app or Microsoft Word
• avoid jargon when writing for a general audience
• use a clear call-to-action (CTA) to tell the reader what they should do next

UVic style guide formatting

Refer to the UVic style guide to ensure your formatting, spelling and grammar is styled consistently.

Web style checklist

Using the style guide, we’ve created a readability checklist for you to reference when reviewing the formatting of your site:

• content is broken up into “chunks,” with white space in between short blocks of text
• lists are formatted as short, high-impact bullets, not separated by commas in a block of text
• nothing is underlined except for links
• when emphasis is needed on a word or phrase, use bold face instead of italics
• no custom web styles (adding custom CSS/HTML to the source code)
• headings are used appropriately (see Accessible text)
• headings are written in sentence case
  • e.g., "Parents and visitors," not "Parents and Visitors"
• avoid using "click here" for links. Describe the link destination instead
  • e.g., graduate student funding, not “click here for graduate student funding”
• URLs are not used for link names; spell it out
  • e.g., School of Child and Youth Care not http://www.uvic.ca/hsd/cyc
  • e.g., Email the Web Coordinator not webcoor@uvic.ca

Web style vs. UVic style guide

In some cases, web style deviates from the UVic style guide. These practices are:

• numbers 1-9 remain as numerals instead of written out
  • e.g., reference as "4" instead of "four"
• bulleted list items start with a lowercase letter and do not end with a period
• if the bullet is more than 1 sentence, make it a sub-bullet or change it to a numbered list
• numbered list items are proper sentence style - capitalized and ending with a period