The influence of reading speed and line length on the effectiveness of reading from screen

Abstract

With such a large volume of material accessible from the World Wide Web, there is an urgent need to increase our knowledge of factors in#uencing reading from screen. We investigate the e!ects of two reading speeds (normal and fast) and di!erent line lengths on comprehension, reading rate and scrolling patterns. Scrolling patterns are de"ned as the way in which readers proceed through the text, pausing and scrolling. Comprehension and reading rate are also examined in relation to scrolling patterns to attempt to identify some characteristics of e!ective readers. We found a reduction in overall comprehension when reading fast, but the type of information recalled was not dependent on speed. A medium line length (55 characters per line) appears to support e!ective reading at normal and fast speeds. This produced the highest level of comprehension and was also read faster than short lines. Scrolling patterns associated with better comprehension (more time in pauses and more individual scrolling movements) contrast with scrolling patterns used by faster readers (less time in pauses between scrolling). Consequently, e!ective readers can only be de"ned in relation to the aims of the reading task, which may favour either speed or accuracy.

A research on comprehension differences between print and screen reading

“…However, Dyson and Haselgrove (2001) found that a medium line length (55 characters per line) appears to support effective reading at normal and fast speeds as well as producing the highest level of reading comprehension. On the other hand, Chen and Chien (2005) pointed out that the writing system of English and Chinese is essentially different.…”

Wide vs. Narrow Paragraphs: An Eye Tracking Analysis

“…The intuition is that the "return sweep" from the end of one line to the beginning of the next is more difficult in wide paragraphs because of the longer eye movement required by the reader. More recently, however, researchers in ergonomics and human factors have re-visited the issue with reading from computer screens [1,3,4,5,14]. In contrast with print studies, reading speed on computer screens favored longer lines (e.g.…”

An Interactive User Interface for Text Display

“…First, the similar readability was found irrespective of the line length as far as the line length does not exceed a certain limit [2]. Second, the optimum line length that corresponds to optimum readability differed depending on researchers and experiments [2,3].…”

“…With regard to the computer screen environment, the average text width preferred by the subjects on the computer screen was found to be around 100mm [2,3]. An experiment measuring the number of characters showed similar results of 55 characters per line (cpl) [2] and 55-70 cpl [3]. Based on these studies, web designs with a specific fixed text width were recommended [3,4].…”