Low-Literacy Web-Users

Should we even bother with those who have a “Low-Literacy” reading ability? I mean, do enough of them use the Web to demand an easier to comprehend layout?

We’ve known since 1997 how most users read on the Web: they scan text and pick out the pieces that interest them. Content usability guidelines have remained mostly the same since 1997, but now there’s news.

We recently expanded our research to cover a big part of the population left out of earlier studies: lower-literacy users. As it turns out, their online behavior is radically different than that of higher-literacy users.

This new research on lower-literacy usability is sponsored by Pfizer, which has a major effort underway to make its consumer communications understandable and actionable by a broad consumer audience. Understanding health information can be challenging for anyone, regardless of literacy level, so the effort’s benefits will be far reaching in helping consumers understand and treat their conditions…. Source: useit.com

[tags]content,consumer,communications,usability,guidelines[/tags]