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Home > Guidelines > 2. Make text scannable. > 2d. Turn any list into a bulleted or numbered list.. |
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2d. Turn any list into a bulleted or numbered list.When creating list items...
When organizing lists...
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BackgroundLists can save readers time by allowing them to see at a glance specific items, questions, or directions. —Brusaw, Alred, and Oliu (1997) In any sentence, put lists at the end. Put the longer item at the end of the list.—Bush & Campbell (1995) To keep the list skimmable, try to keep the length of each item in that list short. One to five words is best, with two to four even better. … One format that works well on-screen is lists of short, bold headings a few words long followed by a sentence or two of summary in a lighter, perhaps smaller, font.—Bricklin (1998) Provide a list of shortcut links to your best-selling items and/or those that users most frequently navigate to. … Make it easy for users to scan and select products in lists. … Enable users to view at least three or four items simultaneously. Strike a balance between the number of items users can view simultaneously and the amount of information you provide for each item. Present items in a logical order. Present related products in logical groups within the list.—IBM (1999). Structure the page to facilitate scanning and help users ignore large chunks of the page in a single glance: for example, use groupings and subheadings to break a long list into several smaller units. —Nielsen (1999d) You can include a greater number of lists on a web page than on a printed paper page. … Limit the number of items in a single list to no more than nine. Generally, limit lists to no more than two levels: primary and secondary. —Sun (2000) See bibliography: Bricklin (1998), Brusaw, et al (1997), Bush & Campbell (1995), Hackos & Stevens (1996), IBM (1999), Kaiser (2000), Kilian (1999), Lohse & Spiller (1998), Morkes & Nielsen (1997, 1998), Nielsen (1997a, 1997b), Price & Korman (1993), Sun (2000), Tarutz (1992). Original Paragraph: If you are saving for your own retirement, or your child’s college tuition, you may want to invest in savings bonds. Series EE bonds offer interest rates that are better than what most banks can offer. Bonds are also convenient to buy. You can buy EE bonds by having money deducted from your paycheck, or you can go down to your bank and pick up a few bonds, for as little as $50 each. Safety? Your bonds are backed by the U.S. government. The only way you can lose money is if you lose the bond itself. And the interest is exempt from state income taxes. You can even postpone paying federal income tax on the bonds until you cash them in, or they mature. Also: If you cash in your bonds to pay your child’s college tuition, the income from the bonds is tax free, as long as your gross income is below certain limits. Revised Paragraph: If you are saving for your own retirement, or your child’s college tuition, you may want to invest in savings bonds. Series EE bonds offer: Interest rates that are better than what most banks can offer.
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Other ways to make text scannable
2a. Create a
meaningful
2b. Insert
meaningful
2c. Highlight
keywords and
Resources on scannability Taking a Position on Scannability Heuristic Online Text (HOT) Evaluation for Scannability
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