Return-Path: <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g1KGWiu21713; Wed, 20 Feb 2002 11:32:45 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 11:32:45 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <5.0.0.25.2.20020220111932.00abbc50@postoffice.brown.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Christina Zarcadoolas <Christina_Zarcadoolas@brown.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-health@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:3569] Re: Readability on the Internet X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0 Status: O Content-Length: 1229 Lines: 31 At 12:28 PM 2/6/02 -0500, you wrote: Regarding readability of web based information, I agree with Helen Osborne's list of sources, particularly Useit.com. I'd add Spool's Web Site Usability : A Designer's Guide and a few others. I and colleagues ( at Maximus Inc.) conducted an ethnographic study of low literate adults reading and navigating web sites English and Spanish - (forthcoming Journal of Health Communication). We found that very specific problems created great problems: repeated lack of scrolling past the browser window; spelling errors that stymied searches; cluttered and interactive links, and trusting just about anything they read on sites. Yet, among our target consumers ALL were very excited about the web and wanted to access more info. There is very little actual usability research for low literate adults, but as Graber has demonstrated, most sites's readability of language alone is at 10th - 15th grade level. When you add complex, non-intuitive graphic elements, websites present significant barriers. Thanks, Chris Christina Zarcadoolas, PhD Center for Environmental Studies Box 1943 Brown University Providence, RI 02912 (401) 863-7347 fax (401) 863-3503 email: caz@brown.edu
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