Speed Reading: Pick up the pace!

Video monitors play an increasingly large part in our lives. Many folks do far more reading from the computer screen than from printed text like books and newspapers.

Are you a speed reader? If you read from a computer monitor the answer is probably "No!"

Numerous vision researchers have shown that people read text much slower on computer screens: 28 percent slower.

Here are some explanations why reading text off a monitor takes more time:

• distance between the reading material and the reader
• angle of the reading material
• character shape
• resolution
• characters per line
• lines per page
• words per page
• inter-line spacing
• actual size of characters
• inter-character spacing
• margins
• contrast between characters and background
• posture of the reader
• familiarity with the medium
• distortion in corners
• method for text advancement (scrolling vs. turning pages)

So, if you are in a big hurry you might want to print that on-screen text before reading it!

Related Topics: Tips for general good vision, Office Ergonomics

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