According to Michael Agger from Slate, online reading is slower and users are more likely to lose interest faster.

The most effective text online is bulleted, in a list, occasionally bold, has informative subheads and contains no puns. Aggers refers to Jakob Nielsen's theories, labeling humans as "informavores" who look for "an information scent" on a site.

According to earlier research, there was no difference in reading speeds between reading on paper and on the Web. Nielsen, however, believes that reading online is 25 % slower.

The advice that experts give for reading on the computer is to choose a default screen font such as Verdana, rest your eyes every half an hour, have a good monitor, minimize reflection and skip long lines of words.

Nielsen thinks online readers are "selfish, lazy, and ruthless."

In order to fight this (read Nielsen's post), websites need:
- One idea per paragraph
- Bulleted lists
- Bold text
- Have informative subheads
- Contain no puns
- Shorter text

Nielsen points out that if users are motivated to read lengthy paragraphs in order to get the information they need, then they will. Otherwise, hyper-texting is advisable.

Agger says reading for pleasure is a whole different thing, because you are "engrossed" in the text and do not care about its length but this is a less common practice online.

Nielsen does not promote blogging, but Agger says that bloggers can beat the Internet by "offering a comprehensive take on a subject" and "supplying original thinking."  

Agger concludes by recommending paper as a "balm." "It's contained, offline, tactile," he says. Find out more by reading "A paperless world?"

Source: Slate.com through IFRA Executive News Service

See also:

New eyetrack research can help online editors