Life is just too short to spend it reading “filler text”.

Precisely!

This is also where I believe websites, especially ecommerce site, are trying to maintain the delicate balance between having enough text to satisfy the SE’s but not so much that it annoys their potential customers.

Dave

As long as we don’t have to start typing in that horrible IM shorthand, then I can adjust to making shorter paragraphs to make it easier for the people that like to skim for the important parts. I would imagine though that would include a lot of people out there. Personally, I skim for what I want…I always have and probably always will.

Life is just too short to spend it reading “filler text”.

Personally, I am easily bored and annoyed (what a surprise eh?) with too much text or too long of a body of text, and find myself skimming sooner rather than later.

Interestingly, I find that the product pages I track which have the highest percentage of text also tend to be higher exit pages. I just wonder that if in general, it’s mirroring the faster pace of society as a whole.

“Don’t have time. I need what I want and I need it now.”

Dave

Writers Digest article on paragraph length - http://www.writersdigest.com/archiveitemdisplay.asp?id=1599&secondarycategory=

Bristol University section from “Improve Your Writing” - http://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/skills/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_39.htm

There are many more, but they all say the same thing, make it as long as it needs to be to get your point across. I would say that if you are making a point and using words within the readers grasp, then you will keep them engaged until the end of the paragraph. I could be wrong though

Anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?

And thanks “info”. I appreciate that your comments

And the answer is…It depends. I have seen people state that 2-3 sentences is enough, and others that claim you should go with a 5-7 sentence paragraph. Really though, I think the perfect length of a paragraph that will keep your reader’s attention is…long enough to get your point across. And it depends on your target reader. If you are trying to sell a product or service to neurophysicists then you might have longer more wordy paragraphs. And if you are trying branding a concept or toy to a 10 year old…you might want to get it over with in the most direct and forward manor, with short paragraphs, easy words and lots of navigational illustrations.

I would think that there has to be some sort of study information published somewhere it can be found. If I do come across it, I will put the link here for you.

Wendy

Dave

I’ve always been a proponent of “less is more”. Sometimes, breaking down a body of text into a couple of extra paragraphs is just enough to keep the readers attention. That extra white space is just enough. I know it is for me.

Dave