Follow the F
We read in an F-pattern. It looks like this:
So write for an F-pattern.
What does this mean?
Left-align everything
The eye hugs the left-hand margin. So...
Centered headings are a bad idea
One level of bullet is okay.
But two
or three levels are out â look how far away from the left we are now!
Only indent for a very good reason, like a quote.
Give the eye lots of starting places
That Enter button needs more love. Press it. Repeatedly.
Is your paragraph 4 lines long? Imagine the wall of words it will create on a cell phone, and hit Enter.
Has your bulleted brainstorm made it to 5 items? Time for a new list!
Keep hitting Enter. A space gives people a reason to start reading again.
Save emphasis for headings
This one might be a bit controversial. But here goes:
I'm not a fan of highlights, bold, colour, italics, or underlining smattered through text. It makes the eye flit around like an overstimulated mosquito. If you absolutely have to, emphasise sparingly.
In a nutshell, emphasis is more powerful when you save it for headings.
Keep things to the left
Are you feeling the urge to highlight the name or due date you put at the end of a paragraph? Move it to the start and ditch the highlight.
Have you banged a link halfway down a sentence? Rework it so the link is
on its own line,
Or move it into the first few words of the paragraph.
An F-reader pays attention to the start without you needing to do anything.
đ Example of keeping it left
đ F-pattern formatting on a letter
đŠ Sign up for regular writing tips â get new tips direct to your inbox every 2 weeks
âŠī¸ Back to the writing tips
⨠Check out my workshops, where I can train your team to format information people actually want to read.
⨠Look into the School of unProfessional Writing to learn about plain language at your own pace