Poor web site text puts people off says new
survey
London, England, 5th July 2000: Bad writing
on web sites is putting off surfers. That's the conclusion from
a new survey of 500 web sites taken at random. This has revealed a
huge number of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and poor writing.
Amongst the surveyed sites, which included some well known names,
there were 482 textual errors.
According to Graham Jones, who conducted the survey, this could
well be the reason why many sites do not attract repeat visits.
He said: 'The lack of attention to detail by many web sites shows
low standards and is simply not professional. As soon as a surfer
notices an error it destroys any credibility they may have in the
site. Poor text is driving people away from web sites in their droves.'
Jones added that research by web usability guru Jakob Nielsen
had revealed that improving the text on a site can dramatically
increase acceptability amongst users. 'Combined with our survey,'
said Jones, 'this implies that many web sites could gain from a
re-write.'
related
info
Graham
Jones Internet Books
The Web Writer
Jakob Nielsen Home Page
|