The Pause That Refreshes :Writing For Screen Readers (Part Deux)
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I am now going to astound and amaze you with some of the best English language writing ever:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear;Such outward things dwell not in my desires. But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more methinks would share from me For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made, And crowns for convoy put into his purse; We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us.This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.He that outlives this day, and comes safe home Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian.He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.' Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words- Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester- Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,This day shall gentle his condition; And gentlemen in England now-a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Isn't that GREAT??!!! I especially love that "band of brothers" part in the middle.
What? Had a little trouble with it, did you? Just a few lines from a great speech and you mostly skipped over it, huh?
And yet how many times do we inflict a block quote or an unbroken page of our own prose (not as good as the St. Crispin's day speech) on some poor, hapless judge?
In the first post on writing for screen readers, Robert Dubose, author of the book, Legal Writing for the Rewired Brain, gave us counsel about the importance of headings. Today, two more usability tools to give the courts a break, i.e., The pause that refreshes.
From Robert Dubose:
More and more judges are reading your briefs on a computer. When they read your long, dry brief, they are easily distracted by:
· five other windows, all competing for attention,
· a Facebook page with their daughter’s graduation photos,
· stock market quotes,
· frequent email alerts with questions from colleagues, and
· the constant distraction of the Internet, which is only a click away and infinitely more interesting than your brief.
In this sort of reading environment, it is no wonder that most people find it harder to process long, dry text.
So . . . . .
Chunk complex information.
Chunking complex information makes it easier to digest when screen reading. For instance, it is much harder to remember 7135928895 than it is to remember 713-592-8895. And when you were in law school, you almost certainly memorized negligence as (1) the existence of a legal duty, (2) the breach of that duty, (3) damages, (4) that proximately resulted from the breach.
Use charts, lists, bullet points, and other tools to break up complex information.
Give your readers frequent breaks.
In a screen environment, long text is particularly hard to read. The key is to break up the text into easily digestible parts. The days of page-long paragraph are long gone.
Readers get a welcome break in their reading when you give them:
· Frequent headings
· Short paragraphs
· Short sentences
· Lists and bullet points – like this
Short sentences and paragraphs may not always be possible. After all, law is complex. But, when possible, the shorter text is often easier to read.
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