Is your company’s Intranet readable? According to graphic designer Cam Dred, you should make the effort to fix it if it’s not, because a hard-to-read site will impact your organization’s bottom line.
In his post “6 simple ways to make your intranet content more readable,” Mr. Dred notes that the quality of the writing on your intranet may not be as important as you think. In fact, declining readership may have more to do with how your site looks than any other factor. Not sure I completely agree, but I think this is a valid point.
Are you presenting your readers with a wall of text that’s not broken up with headers, bullets, links or anything that gives “any indication of hierarchy or importance?” (Hard to imagine, but it seems that there are intranets that commit these sins.)
Here are some interesting statistics from Jakob Nielsen, whom I have mentioned before in a post:
- Nearly 80 percent of users scan content.
- Users read 25 percent slower when looking at a screen.
- People read only 28 percent of the words on a page.
(For marketing communicators, that last bullet is a real owie.)
Mr. Dred notes, “Users will scan paragraphs’ first lines, then skip down the page to search for content relevant to their needs. They look for signposts such as headings, links, lists and bolded words to identify what’s important.”
So here’s what to do to fix things:
Make your information scannable
Your content should be screen readable. It should not look like a book.
Format for legibility
I do some writing for two senior communities, and their newsletters are in 14-point font. Of course, that’s hard copy, but the same readability rules apply online as they do on paper.
Create small chunks of text
If you don’t break up your text, readers can lose their place as they scan through it. If they must reread a section, they may miss your point (my thought) or abandon the effort altogether.
Make headings clear
Headings offer context, and readers glom onto them to get meaning from the text and to see how it flows. It’s also important for headings to be visually appealing. Use a larger font than body copy and try a different color. Separate headings from the rest of the text. One big no-no (my idea): bolding and underlining a header. That’s overkill, and it makes your content look clunky and amateurish.
Don’t go crazy with special effects
Bet you never thought of bold and italics as a special effect, but they are. I believe that if the writing is good, it can stand on its own with little, if any, need for emphasis. Overuse of bold and italics can turn your content into a mess and invite readers to stop reading. Bolding a headline is ok. And, as I’ve done here, italics probably work, too. Mr. Dred comments, “When you highlight everything, you emphasize nothing.”
Make links stand out
Links are as important on your intranet as they are anywhere else. Readers need to be able to see them easily. Mr. Dred recommends bolding, underlining, or using a different color so they stand out and make things easier for the reader. I prefer using a different color consistently across the site. Color should also change to indicate a visited link.
Prioritize information
(This tip is a bonus.)
It’s a good idea to make your most important information the most visible. Mr. Dred makes several suggestions. Put a summary of your content at the top of the page. This is a great idea, because it saves the time of those who may not need to read it. You can put main points in headers. For example, a header might read “The Fastest Way to Close a Sale.” You should consider putting your main points first, near the top of the page. You may also want to style them differently. (This is where you can perhaps use bold or italics to good effect.)
I started my career in the days of the so-called “house organ,” AKA in-house magazine, employee magazine or in-house publication. I think these periodicals were eagerly awaited by employees, if only because it was probably fun to see the company’s take on a topic vs. what your colleagues thought. These day, we all have more crowded schedules, yet there is still information to be communicated. With this in mind, it makes good sense to make your online pub as easy to digest as possible.
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