Knowing how people read means you’ll write in a way they can understand easily and quickly.
All of this guidance is based on the learning skills of an average person in the Yukon. This guidance also applies when you’re writing for specialists.
Common words
By the time a child is 5 or 6 years old, they’ll use 2,500 to 5,000 common words. Adults still find these words easier to recognize and understand than words they’ve learned since.
By age 9, your primary set is around 5,000 words; your secondary set is around 10,000 words. You use these words every day.
Use short words instead of long words
Keep it simple. When you use a longer word (8 or 9 letters), readers are more likely to skip shorter words (3, 4 or 5 letters) that follow it.
For example:
“The recently implemented categorical standardization procedure on heating oil should not be applied before January 1, 2022.”
The "not" is far more obvious in this:
“Do not use the new heating oil standards before January 1, 2022.”
Reading skills
By the time children are 9 years old, they’ve stopped "reading" common words and, instead, recognize their shape. This allows people to read much faster.
People also do not read one word at a time. They bounce around – especially online. They anticipate words and fill them in.
Your brain can drop up to 30 per cent of the text and still understand. Your vocabulary will grow but this reading skill stays with you as an adult. You do not need to read every word to understand what's written.
Aim for a Grade 6 to 9 reading level
We tell people to write at a Grade 6 to 9 reading level for Yukon.ca. This is also a good guide for any public writing. You can test the readability of your content with a free online tool such as Hemingwayapp.
Explaining the unusual
We explain all unusual terms on Yukon.ca. This is because you can understand 6-letter words as easily as 2-letter words – if they’re in context. If the context is right, you can read a short word faster than a single letter.
By giving full information and using common words, we’re helping people speed up their reading and understand information in the fastest possible way.
Short sentences
People with some learning disabilities read letter for letter – they do not bounce around like other users. They also cannot fully understand a sentence if it’s too long.
People with moderate learning disabilities can understand sentences of 5 to 8 words without difficulty. By using common words we can help most readers understand sentences of around 25 words.
Capital letters are harder to read
When you learn to read, you start with a mix of upper and lower case but you do not start understanding upper case until you’re around 6 years old.
Capital letters are said to be 13 to 18 per cent harder for users to read. This is why we try to avoid them.
Writing words in all capitals indicates shouting in common online use. Do not write words in all capitals in Yukon.ca content or in other writing.
Ampersands can be hard to understand
Do not use ampersands (&) in body copy.
The reason is that "and" is easier to read and easier to skim. Some people with lower literacy levels also find ampersands harder to understand. As government, we cannot exclude users in any way.
How users read web pages
Good online content is easy to scan and takes minimal effort to understand.
Users read very differently online than on paper. They do not necessarily read top to bottom or even from word to word.
Instead, users only read about 20 to 28 per cent of a web page. Where users just want to complete their task as quickly as possible, they skim even more out of impatience.
Web-user eye-tracking studies show that people tend to "read" a webpage in an "F" shape pattern. They look across the top, then down the side, reading further across when they find what they need.
What this means is: put the most important information first. So we talk a lot about ‘front-loading’ sub-headings, titles and bullet points.
For example, say "Fishing licence fees" not "What it costs to get a fishing licence".