Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

Reading online 49 
take a more scattered approach when we read online. We tend to 
scan the page, looking at various diferent items before we return 
to the top to read the text. Much research has been conducted 
using eye tracking technology. Tis is where people are asked to 
read online material and special equipment detects how their eyes 
move. Tese movements can then be mapped onto specifc parts 
of the web page so that the researchers can detect what is being 
read by the web page visitors. Many studies have been undertaken 
using this research technique. Tere is widespread confrmation 
that people do not read online logically. Instead, people’s eyes 
roam around the page, apparently looking for something familiar 
(Pernice, Whitenton, and Nielsen, 2014). 
QUICK TIP: If you fnd it hard to read online, consider printing 
out the essential pages you need to concentrate on. 
Furthermore, much of the printed material we use has been 
given careful consideration regarding typography. Tere are 
well-established protocols for printed material for the number 
of characters and words on a line, for instance. However, much 
of what we read online is not prepared by graphic designers with 
typographical experience. As a result, fonts are often selected 
without much regard for their readability. For example, even a 
tiny change in type size can signifcantly alter our reading speed 
online (Bernard, Liao, and Mills, 2001). In addition, the width 
of the lines of text is often not well-controlled. Tis means the 
number of characters on a line is widely variable and often be-
yond what is comfortable for the eyes to take in. Tat means it 
is harder to read online text, and it involves many more reading 
errors, taking more time than the equivalent printed material. 
Tis is another reason why reading digital materials can be very 
tiring indeed. 
As if the process of reading were not tricky enough online, there 
is the additional problem of how we use computers. We tend to 

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