User Centric Hosts Webinar Showcasing Research that Dramatically Improves Readability of Text

April 23, 2012 - PRLog -- Guest Presenter Chris Nicholas, Language Technologies, Inc. and ReadSmart LLC, will present broad-ranging research demonstrating that subtle changes to word spacing, text size, and line endings substantially improve reading comprehension during a webinar hosted by User Centric. The complimentary webinar, “Reading between the Words: Strategies for Improving the Readability of Printed Text,” on April 25 will introduce the benefits of ReadSmart, a unique technology that has a big impact on the user experience.

Backed by over 40 years of research from cognitive science, linguistics, neuroscience, psychology and computer science, ReadSmart® works by making small variations to the spacing between letters, spaces, words, size of letters and words and line endings based on the linguistic, psychological and informational properties of the text.  There is no change to vocabulary, word order or grammar - layouts, fonts, punctuation, sentences and other structures are unchanged as well as the total amount of space used. Although these sophisticated modifications to the composition of the text are very subtle, the results -- improved reading -- are unambiguous and powerful. Through dozens of research studies in the science underlying ReadSmart, reading abilities including comprehension, speed and persuasiveness improve dramatically, for both good and poor readers. Not limited to the English language, ideal applications of Readsmart include instructions for use, policy and procedures, direct mail, advertising, textbooks, and digital and mobile publishing.

This presentation is the sixth in the series, “We Believe Experiences Matter.”  The series explores various topics related to user experience. Webinar subjects range from eye tracking to interaction design.  Upcoming presentations include “No, But Do I Really Need Eye Tracking?” on April 17 and “Global User Research Made Easier” presented on May 8. Register for the webinars by visiting http://www.usercentric.com/webinars.

User Centric, Inc. is a global user experience research and design firm with a long history of improving user experiences.  Services include user research, user interface design consulting, usability testing, user interface evaluations, eye tracking, service design, personas and ethnography.