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7. Track your Time Trial scores.
Go to your Personal Progress chart and make sure you've
recorded your Words per Minute, comprehension percentage, and the date you did the exercise. It's
also helpful to document other details such as time of day, any preoccupations, strategies used, and so
on.
Reading On A Computer Screen
Race car drivers, and all drivers in general, are likely to drive slower in unfamiliar territory, or
terrain that is new to them. For readers, the same is true when navigating the unfamiliar or less-than-
ideal terrain of reading from a computer screen. Anyone who reads on a computer screen intuitively
knows it is not the same as reading on paper.
Research has shown that people experience a 30 percent reduction in speed when reading from a
screen. So if your reading speed averages 250 words per minute on paper, your reading speed on a
screen may go down to 175 words per minute. Also, comprehension, concentration and retention are
reduced when reading from a computer screen. Extensive research by Paul Muter, from the
psychology department at the University of Toronto, identified 24 reasons to partially explain why
reading from a computer screen is not the same as on paper, some of which may be responsible for
the decrease in speed, including:
The distance between the reading material and the reader.
Screen resolution.
Characters per line.
Left justification vs. full justification.
Margin width.
Posture of the reader.
Familiarity with the medium.
System response time.
These differences may also explain why people prefer to print longer documents from their
screen to paper. Price Waterhouse Coopers, an accounting and business firm, recently conducted a
study tracking the paper consumption in offices that began using e-mail and found a 40 percent in-
crease in paper use. I partially attribute this increase to the reduction of reading speed and the over-
all comfort levels when reading from paper as opposed to reading from a computer screen.
You are going to have to get used to screen reading, however, because the technology is here to
stay. According to researcher and on-screen speed reading specialist Pam Mullan, the best way to
adapt to reading in the computer age is to rely less on printing done on paper, and practice reading
from the screen.
To help people improve their on-screen reading comfort levels, Mullan suggests changing the
font size and style for a positive impact on your screen-reading abilities. For readability, she suggests
sans serif fonts such as Arial, Verdana, and Helvetica. Font size should not be smaller than twelve
point, and not larger than eighteen point, but Mullan encourages individuals to try different styles and
sizes to determine personal preferences.
Many of the skills already discussed for reading on paper can be applied to screen reading.
Strategies such as reading key words, phrases, and key phrases help you increase your speed on
screen. Purpose and responsibility apply to screen reading as much (if not more) as they do to paper
reading. Pre-viewing is sometimes possible and skimming, scanning, and skipping are always an
option.
One simple application for skipping involves managing your e-mail. For example, rather than
opening e-mail that you know is junk mail from reading the subject line, immediately delete it, thus
reducing unnecessary reading. Pacers, your hand, or a card, unfortunately are very awkward. See "Tip
of the Day" below for an on-screen reading suggestion. As more and more information becomes
available electronically rather than on paper, you therefore need to apply as many tips and techniques
as possible to improve your computer reading abilities.
If you didn't know already, READING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS VERY HARD ON THE
EYES. SOME PEOPLE USE THEM WHEN THEY TYPE ON A SCREEN OR PAPER. IN THE
COMPUTER TEXT WORLD, PEOPLE FEEL AS IF THEY ARE BEING SHOUTED AT WHEN
SOMEONE WRITES IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. All capital letters also slows you down. So
when you compose text on a computer, use standard upper- and lower case letterers for readability.
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