Print VS. Media - what to do differently

The amount of documents that are distributed online is increasihng which means these documents need to be designed for onscreen reading.

Online reading is harder than reading from paper. It is more difficult to read online because of the way your eyes see the message.

• Online readers are subjected to projected light which means the letters in a message are projected individually onto the screen which creates a difference in brightness levels.
• Readers viewing a paper document see reflected light. the letters on paper stand out against the background therefore the contrast range is not as high.

Partial page view. There is a difference between the amount of text visible at a time between online and paper. Less text is shown onscreen.

• Online reading only shows a horizontal rectangular view of part of a page which makes it difficult for readers to completely see what they are reading.
• Readers of a printed document can see the entire page, known as a vertical rectangle. This means readers can quickly skim the hole document.

Design suggestions:

• avoid multicolumn layouts
• reduce line length
• adjust line spacing
• divide and conquer
• be mindful of display size
• use lists to make information more visual
• indicate new paragraphs

All these suggestions will help create a document reader for online viewing.

Parker, R 2003, looking good in print, Paraglyph Press, Arizona, 5th edn.