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Hardware design On-screen design Next Bibliography Index Guideline 22 Guideline 21 Guideline 20 Guideline 19 Guideline 18 Guideline 17 Guideline 16 Guideline 15 Guideline 14 Guideline 13 Guideline 12 Guideline 11 Guideline 10 Guideline 9 Guideline 8 Guideline 7 Guideline 6 Guideline 5 Guideline 4 Guideline 3 Guideline 2 Guideline 1 Introduction Table of contents Previous On-screen design Hardware design Next page Bibliography Index Guideline 20 Guideline 19 Guideline 18 Guideline 17 Guideline 16 Guideline 15 Guideline 14 Guideline 13 Guideline 12 Guideline 11 Guideline 10 Guideline 9 Guideline 8 Guideline 7 Guideline 6 Guideline 5 Guideline 4 Guideline 3 Guideline 2 Guideline 1 Introduction Table of contents Previous page

"Text was set out too much in a block - there was no breaking up of the text, e.g. by illustrations, photos. It all appeared a mass of words - not easy to read or follow"

Participant in EBONI pilot experiment

Within each page, breaking the text into short chunks improves the scannability of the text. This can be achieved by, for example, interspersing text with images and diagrams and keeping paragraphs short, and by using meaningful sub-headings, indented, bulleted lists, and colour to break the uniformity of the text.


13.1 Keep paragraphs short
13.2 Use meaningful-sub-headings
13.3 Use indented, bulleted lists
13.4 Use colour (e.g. for headings and bullet points)
13.5 Intersperse text with diagrams. Refer to Guideline 14 ("Use non-text items with care") for advice on positioning diagrams.

Figure 12

Figure 13. Text broken into short chunks: Neuroscience for Kids by Eric Chudler

Neuroscience for Kids breaks text into short chunks by using lots of sub-headings and images, and by presenting paragraphs in coloured blocks.

Click to enlarge

© EBONI 2000-2002
Screenshot used with author's permission