Format matters: make your courses readable
When you start writing content for an elearning course, it's easy to get caught up in the wealth of information available on the topic. There's so much to include, and everything matters; nothing can be left out.
In and of itself, that's not a bad thing; in fact, it's better to start with a full plate and pare it down, than to start with nothing and embellish. But when you're writing content for the web, less is often more; and the format of our content is just as important as the information itself.
What kind of formatting?
→ The kind of formatting that makes your content more readable.
Where to find readability guidelines?
→ Look to usability experts. They've done extensive research regarding all facets of usability - including how the text (and images) look on the screen.
Below are 10 tips gleaned from the usability world that you can apply to your elearning content.
10 Ways to Make Your Content Readable
1. Use white space.
White space on the page lets you emphasize what's important; it gives readers a visual cue that they don't have to thing about. If the page is crowded with words, your readers have to read the page like they would read a book - very tiring on the web.
Instead put space between paragraphs, and plenty of space around images - drawing the readers eye to the important elements.
2. Use readable fonts and sizes.
Love Times New Roman? It's great for print - not so great for online readability. Sans-serif fonts (Arial, Verdana, Tahoma) are more readable on the web - so take advantage of that.
And use a font size that is readable as well; it's far more tiring to read on the web than on paper, and small font sizes add to the strain. Or better yet, make the font size adjustable.
3. Vary text density.
Instead of filling each page of your course with long paragraphs of text, mix it up: a couple of paragraphs, a list, a short paragraph...
...even a single sentence.
4. Use headings and subheadings.
Headings break up your text visually, and organize the information in a (hopefully) logical way. In education we would say you're giving trainees 'hooks to hang their hats on' - which, loosely translated, means that you give trainees a 'head up' about what you're writing about - so they can put the details in place without thinking about it too much.
5. Use visual cues for emphasis.
Visual cues don't require thinking - that's what makes them so powerful.
Add emphasis with bold text, or color cues. Use arrows to draw the readers attention to a particularly important point.
6. Use captions with images.
If an image is worth a thousand words, what is an image with a caption worth?
The image draws the reader's attention - so reading the caption follows naturally. Take advantage of this and write pithy captions to go with the images you select.
Note: if you can't think of a relevant caption for your image, maybe the image isn't relevant to the topic.
7. Make links look like links.
That means recognizable as links - underlined at the very least. Visited links should be have a darker, muted color - again, so trainees know intuitively that they've already visited that link.
8. Black text on white background.
The web lets us put our text on virtually any colored background; don't. Black text on a white background is still the easiest reading - and you want people to read your text, right?
9. Sidebars
Use sidebars to draw attention to information that lends itself to a list format: 12 Tips for Setting Up An Ergonomic Workspace, How to Connect to the Intranet, Emergency Contact Numbers...you get the idea.
10. Write clearly...and edit.
After you've written you course content, go through it again and edit it down to the fewest words you need to convey the concepts. Think about your trainees - focus on what they need to know - and remove unnecessary fluff from your pages.
Sounds easy, but writing well in fewer words is really hard. Give it a try. The results will be worth the effort.