Write without creating traps for your readers: billbennett.micro.blog
@billbennettnz I find this advice just weird: “It is also better to write out percent in full than use %.” My response is every time to pause, reflect on how ‘something’ that is — old-fashioned? persnickety? stupid? There’s a perfectly good symbol. Why not use it? Not aiming to be hostile here, just to convey my personal reaction…
@Miraz Good question.
The post is an update on something I wrote about 15 years ago.
Even. longer ago there was a lot of academic research into how people read.
Among other things it found a reader’s eyes will stop and their reading will briefly pause when they see the % symbol. When it is written as words (could be percent, could be per cent with a space) the reader just moves smoothly on taking it in their stride.
To be fair, I no longer have access to the research that comes from and it was done years ago when reading meant print, not pixels, so it’s possible things have changed.
@billbennettnz I suspect a lot has changed in that time. It would be good to get updated research, especially taking into account how people read on screen. Thanks for the explanation.