While digital content creators tend to focus on the “bones” and “meats of their assets, and are concerned about info completeness and other factors that can help them rank higher in search engines, they forget about the “skin” of their assets.
content is indeed the king for digital marketing. However, it’s not the retinue or “skin” that makes the true king. Web typography is the retinue of digital content.
How much do you pay attention to content formatting Is it important to pay attention to more than headings, paragraphs, and visuals? Did you know that web pages can be hampered by math proportions?
Here are some small, but crucial mistakes in text formatting which can cause negative impressions of your content. Let’s look at math that enhances the reading experience, and helps website visitors better comprehend your content AI-written.
7 Critical Factors in Digital Content Usability
The wrong alignment
Spacing is wrong
Headings difficult to read
Poor color-contrast ratio
Font size is wrong
Complex text structure
Large text fields
1 — Wrong Alignment
It is astonishing how many websites do not care about aligning or maintaining a text content center. Some people try to align words by hand while others do a complete justification. None of these methods work for stellar formatting.
Words can be of different lengths. Even if you adjust your screen resolution, it will still fail on other screens. This causes awkward word spacing. It makes your content look sloppy and difficult to read. When users “stumble”, the text flow is affected and suffers.
The best way to align your digital content is to do so left.
First, most people read text from left to right. It fits the F-shaped pattern internet users look at when they scan your page and decide whether they want it to be read.
A frayed right hand margin is more usable than random spacing between words. The former doesn’t allow readers to see what you are sharing in the content.
2 — Wrong Spacing
This mistake is related to spacing your digital content before and after subheadings. Although it may seem minor and most web admins ignore this when choosing a theme for their website, here is the rule:
Spacing between subheadings should be greater than after them.
This formatting makes it easy for users to identify the paragraphs in the subheading. This formatting makes the whole content asset visually appealing.
3 — Headings That Are Hard to See
Digital writers understand that good headlines are essential for the success of their content. They assist with SEO writing and provide better visibility for search engines. However, they also help users scan your content to understand the context.
Revert to the F-shaped shape here
It takes 10 seconds for users to go through the content and find out what it’s about. Subheadings work best. Poorly written and difficult to scan subheadings won’t encourage web visitors to continue reading. You can make your subheads more usable by following these guidelines:
Try a different font or color.
Boldly make them.
Make sure to include subheadings that help readers understand the main points of your content.
Keep them short and simple.
However, make sure to write subheadings which are compelling enough to encourage visitors to continue reading.
4 — Complex Text Structure
Let’s face facts, it’s very difficult to create unique content today. The competition is insane, and everyone tries hard for comprehensive assets that meet E.A.T. (Google’s level of authority, authoritativeness, trustworthiness, and expertness) and user search intent. These assets serve as ultimate guides to answering all questions.
But there’s one catch.
In pursuit of high-quality content 10x, creators design long-form assets with complicated structures. Many subhead levels are used in these structures, making it difficult for readers and reducing usability. Instead, they’ll become lost in your content.
Today’s internet users have a shorter attention span than ever. They won’t spend hours looking at your text blocks. You have a greater chance of them leaving your site quickly if you make it too complicated. This will impact your bounce rate, dwell time, and other behavioral factors.
Let’s compare:
Title -H2 –H2 –H2
Title – Title -H2-H3 – H3-H3 – H3-H3 – H3-H2
Title – H2–H3–H4–H4–H4–H3–H3–H2–H2
Because the first text structure is concise and simple, it works well. The second structure is just as good: Readers can understand the flow and where each block belongs. The last one is harder to understand, as it requires readers to focus and to remember what and where they are reading.
To make digital content more usable, remember the rule of “the simpler, is better”
5 — Poor Color-Contrast Ratio
It is obvious that you wouldn’t place yellow text on green backgrounds or blue backgrounds. It is important to consider the color-contrast ratio when designing web pages. This improves readability and allows users to see information clearly.
Too much contrast or the wrong color combinations can exhaust your readers, frustrate them and lead to them leaving your website, regardless of how informative or persuasive content they have for you. How to prevent this:
You can choose a light background that is soothing and calm, regardless of the brand colors you use or any other color psychology choices for your website. It will make it easy for users read your digital content.
You can adjust the color-contrast ratio of your web pages using tools such as GitHub. No less than 5 to 1. Why do you think that black text on white backgrounds looks the best? Black and white have the highest color-contrast ratio.
6 — The Wrong Font Size
Users won’t take the time to read your digital content. A website with fonts that are too small (12px) is a sure sign of disrespect.
Here are some general guidelines to be aware of:
Maximum font size should be 14px. Although 16px to18px is recommended by editors dotcom, some experts believe that this size is best for web. However, content readability does not depend on the size of the font.
It is best to limit the number of fonts you place on a single web page.
Fonts should reflect your brand’s personality. According to typography psychology, Nickkolenda dotcom, readers associate different fonts with certain emotions and associations. This is your chance to change their perceptions.
7 — Large Text Fields
Last, but not the least, web admins often overlook when formatting pages.
The line height and the length of text blocks.
It is a web font design rule based upon the golden ratio. The three dimensions of the font (font size/line width and line height) should be in harmony and pleasing to the eye. It makes reading easier and improves usability.
The golden ratio is 1.618. However, you can calculate the best one for your site based on what font size you use. GRT calculators are useful for this. The larger font size means that you must use more lines. Robert Bringhurst (author of The Elements of Typographic Style) has another formula.
Your web page should have a font size of 30 (x).
50 to 75 characters is the ideal line length for a text-column. A longer line can make it difficult for the reader to concentrate on the content, as well as gauge its beginning and end points. A shorter line will cause the eye to travel back too often, which will affect the rhythm.
A problem with long lines is that they make it seem like there’s more work, scaring readers. A lack of lines can also cause stress to visitors. They may start the next line before they finish the current one. This could lead to you not being able to share the important information that you want.
Learn how to blog using a line width trick from Derek Halpern, Social Triggers
Even if the text is too long, the introduction can still be a hook for readers. Here are some examples of half-width images to help with headlines:
Long paragraphs and large text fields are also possible. Web writers understand that this is one of the most important indicators of readability. Users scan a text, and if there are too many blocks of text, they find it hard to comprehend.
Websites often struggle to solve this problem. This means that paragraphs should not exceed 3-4 sentences. Or even 1-2 sentences. If you don’t have enough resources to calculate this golden ratio, it’s a good rule of thumb to follow. (The above dimensions include font size, line width, spacing, and line spacing.
However, the number of sentences that you can include in your paragraphs is dependent on the size of your font, line width, spacing, and layout of your lines.
Takeaways
Although digital content has its own quality and subject matter, webmasters as well as designers must not overlook the importance of its usability. No matter how detailed and expert your texts are, users won’t read them if the text is difficult to see and visually disorienting.
Content moderation should be a priority. For better content usability, and conversion, it is worth learning a bit about web text design math. Here are some examples:
Align your texts left.
Attention to spacing between subheadings.
Avoid using complex text structures.
Make sure all subheads are visible
Make sure that your text and background are at least 5:1.
For text content, use a minimum of 14px font size.
Calculate the golden ratio to your web site based on three dimensions: font dimension, line height, line width.
Yes, genius is easy. However, only those who make fewer mistakes will win.