Why You Should Write As If Your Readers Are 12 Years Old

Posted by annajohnson on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @06:49PM
from the kikabink.com dept.

http://www.kikabink.com/news/why-you-should-write-as-if-your-readers-are-12-years-old/

( 3 comments | 4 points | on HN )

Re:Why You Should Write As If Your Readers Are 12 Years Old by aresant on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @07:06PM (#1789224)

You're spot on - we actually built a tool based around the Gunning Fog methodolgy that lets you determine what "grade level" your web page is readable by:

http://www.conversionvoodoo.com/readability.php

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why You Should Write As If Your Readers Are 12 Years Old by annajohnson on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @07:18PM (#1789247)

That is a REALLY cool tool, thanks for sharing.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why You Should Write As If Your Readers Are 12 Years Old by aresant on Wednesday October 13, 2010 @07:25PM (#1789263)

Yep - had a fun time with that one - check out the underlying math - could make for an interesting follow-up post on your blog ->

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunning_fog_index

It's not a perfect system, but it's amazing to test things like USAToday.com vs. The New Yorker written for high school vs. college level readers . . .

[ Parent | on HN ]