Suggestion For Readable Longer Posts

[+ Lucky]

I noted this in another thread, but if you don't read that thread, you won't see it. So I post it here in case you are interested:

Long posts need white spaces. It's as simple as that. If you want your post read in its entirety, then give it some space!

 

 

White space is a design principle. Simply, the absence of text draws your eye to the text. It literally refers to the amount of space around and between the words.

...

We should use white space because:

1. It makes it easier for us to read.
   
2. It draws the reader's attention to the text.
   
3. It is uncluttered and calming.
   

Sep 6, 2016

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Designer Keith Robertson says:

 

White space is nothing. White space is the absence of content. White space does not hold content in the way that a photograph or text holds meaning and yet it gives meaning, through context, to both image and text. In fact, white space can make or break the effective transmission of image and text.”

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

I noted this in another thread, but if you don't read that thread, you won't see it. So I post it here in case you are interested:

Long posts need white spaces. It's as simple as that. If you want your post read in its entirety, then give it some space!

 

 

White space is a design principle. Simply, the absence of text draws your eye to the text. It literally refers to the amount of space around and between the words.

...

We should use white space because:

1. It makes it easier for us to read.
   
2. It draws the reader's attention to the text.
   
3. It is uncluttered and calming.
   

Sep 6, 2016

https://www.writerswrite.co.za/why-you-need-white-space-and-5-ways-to-create-it/

 

Designer Keith Robertson says:

 

It's called power white space within journalism/newspaper layout design. It's a really important, useful tool.

 

I'd also encourage posters to bold points they want to get across.

 

Good post Lucky ?

Edited October 27, 2020 by Benjamin_Nicholas

[+ poolboy48220]

Clarity in writing is something I've always tried for. Years ago, during a particularly dramatic time on our gay swim team, involving many, many long emails with people passionately explaining their position , one team member complained that he had trouble reading the long one-paragraph emails. In work emails I try to keep things brief and get my point across in the first sentence or two; if more explanation is needed I'll put that afterwards. Bold or color, or different fonts, can help too.

[thickornotatall]

I agree..after more tha a few paragraphs I move to the last few sentences. My eyes blur when the text is too long.

Same for obituaries that ramble.

[+ FrankR]

It's called power white space within journalism/newspaper layout design. It's a really important, useful tool.

 

I'd also encourage posters to bold points they want to get across.

 

Good post Lucky ?

They do say fortune favors the bold! ?

[mike carey]

I noted this in another thread, but if you don't read that thread, you won't see it. So I post it here in case you are interested:

Long posts need white spaces. It's as simple as that. If you want your post read in its entirety, then give it some space!

True indeed. Even if you do that it doesn't guarantee that you won't be pinged here for being verbose.

[+ MysticMenace]

Yikes. I may be (most likely am) guilty of this, since I do have a few longer posts. Thanks for the suggestions, will take these under advisement!

[+ Cock Eyed Optimist]

Interesting concept. I had not realized this before, but like "Thickornotatall", my eyes skip ahead if there is a paragraph laid out before me with solid text. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks.

[+ RJD]

SAY

 

YES

 

TO

 

WHITE

 

SPACES!

 

?

[+ azdr0710]

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[wsc]

In my working years, I acquired a reputation for being somewhat long-winded, which I preferred to mean thorough. Younger associates would panic if I began my answer to their question with, "Let me give you some background."

 

Walking with a co-worker out of the building one evening, I realized I'd forgotten something and turned to go back for it. My walking companion said he'd wait for me. It took an exasperatingly long time to find the item, and when I went back to where I'd left my friend, I expected him to be long gone after the 20-minute delay. Surprisingly, however, he was still there, and greeted me with, "What happened? Somebody ask you what time it was?" My reputation knew no bounds, it seemed.

 

One of my duties was to occasionally write step-by-step procedures for use by engineers or technicians. Rules for that type of writing - such as start a step with an action word, like "Open" or "Close" - tended to keep individual steps shorter and more concise. But some procedures in their whole could be quite lengthy, and I found providing adequate white space between steps and sections made the document more readable and less-prone to performance errors.

 

When technology moved us from 81/2x11 paper to laptop screens, I successfully lobbied for maintaining the same reverence for white space, in recognition of the realities of text-to-eye-to-mind perception and processing by the human performer. Thoughtful placement of notes and page breaks can also add to readability and render a more pleasing-to-the-eye artistic result.

 

The same dynamics prevail with almost any reader of any text in any medium, and should be warmly embraced by one and all.

[+ purplekow]

I agree..after more tha a few paragraphs I move to the last few sentences. My eyes blur when the text is too long.

Same for obituaries that ramble.

 

 

In obituaries the white is known as dead space

Edited October 28, 2020 by purplekow

[+ purplekow]

white

 

spaces

 

matter

[mike carey]

white

 

spaces

 

matter

All spaces matter.

[+ poolboy48220]

Surprisingly, however, he was still there, and greeted me with, "What happened? Somebody ask you what time it was?" My reputation knew no bounds, it seemed.

We had a very long winded co-worker. It became a game in the office to invite him into a conversation, then leave, stranding someone else with listening to the co-worker go on and on.

 

Another job, one of the tech people interrupted a project manager with just "Bob, stop talking". I asked her about it and she said they'd known each other a LONG time and Bob took it in good humor; but she was right, Bob could go on & on about topics he knew nothing about.

[JayCeeKy]

“When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.”

--- William Strunk, The Elements of Style

[orville]

white

 

spaces

 

matter

Grammar

 

too!

[mike carey]

“When a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.”

--- William Strunk, The Elements of Style

Wasn't it Mark Twain who said that he would have written a shorter letter if he'd had more time?

[Luv2play]

I agree..after more tha a few paragraphs I move to the last few sentences. My eyes blur when the text is too long.

Same for obituaries that ramble.

I guess I am out of step with the majority as I read everything if the subject interests me. The example of obituaries is a case in point. I scan these daily and have done so for years. Some people have led really interesting lives and reading their obits can be a mini history lesson. I particularly enjoy stories of “the greatest generation”, those who went to war and had amazing experiences and lived to tell about it (Or not, some were extremely reticent about talking about their exploits).

[+ Lucky]

I read your entire post when it had no white space, but it is easier for me to read now that you have included some white space. If an article is long and not spaced, I read it so long as it interests me, but admittedly the interest fades when it becomes too much work.

[Islesguy]

We had a very long winded co-worker. It became a game in the office to invite him into a conversation, then leave, stranding someone else with listening to the co-worker go on and on.

 

Another job, one of the tech people interrupted a project manager with just "Bob, stop talking". I asked her about it and she said they'd known each other a LONG time and Bob took it in good humor; but she was right, Bob could go on & on about topics he knew nothing about.

When I went to sleep away camp, we used to play a card game that could go on for hours and the rules allowed for people to join in after a round had begun. It wasn't unusual for a game to end with a completely different set of people than the ones who began it. On occasion, none of the people who started the game made it to the end.

 

Talk about long-winded. ?