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On 4 May 2007, at 14:21, Alison Wildish wrote: > Can anyone point me in the direction of any research/articles > relating to > how much information people are willing to read online? Well probably the most well know research I am aware of is that done by Neilsen. Here is an example of his thoughts on the subject: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html This attitude is reflected in Steve Krug's book "don't make me think". If you haven't read this get it! It is by far the best web design book out there period... well in my opinion :) > I am interested to know whether their is a tendancy for people to > read a > little online, then print out or request full details to read at > leisure? In my experience it is not so much a question of how much people read as how they read. As is stated in both of the sources I give above users scan and don't read. They will skip over huge chunks of content looking for guides to what they are after (headings, bullets, links ect). > I ask because we're, once again, looking at our course information and > there is a suggestion to create glossy, high quality yet brief > leaflets to > give to our enquirers and then point them in the direction of the > web for > more information. Whilst I think the information should be > available in > full on the website (broken down into useable chunks), I wonder if we > should be working the other way around? In my experience course information is something students want to read in full. They want to know exactly what they are getting as they are committing considerable amounts of their time and money to attending a course. It is a big decision. As a result they are likely to want to read in much more detail. The web isn't very suited to that. It strains the eye and it can be tiring to read for any length of time. Also (depending on the age group you are trying to reach) they may well want to hand information around. They might want to show it to parents, friends, teachers etc. I understand that there is a cost saving involved in printing less and putting more on the web but I am not always sure it is the right decision. I guess with a good print style sheet the user can always print the more detailed information online but it is not going to look as good as a proper printed brochure. Anyway that is my two cents worth. Thanks, Paul - - - - - Paul Boag [ Director ] H E A D S C A P E work: headscape.co.uk personal: boagworld.com t: 01258 453889 | m: 07760 123 120 Headscape Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 4251820. This message is private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify us and remove it from your system. ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________