Comments on: The 10 Most Readable Blogs (That I Like) http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/ Personal Development for Polymaths Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:10:24 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Weekend reading for investors: 16/5/09 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-19264 Weekend reading for investors: 16/5/09 Sat, 16 May 2009 08:53:58 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-19264 [...] has a reading ease score of 32 and reading grade 14. According to this interesting post, most people will find my site has too many long words and sentences. That matches my experience! I [...] [...] has a reading ease score of 32 and reading grade 14. According to this interesting post, most people will find my site has too many long words and sentences. That matches my experience! I [...]

]]> By: Hunter Nuttall http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-643 Hunter Nuttall Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:22:23 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-643 Alik, I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. I just took a quick look at your blog, and my prefrontal cortex is OK! However, we can all improve. Alik, I think you’re being a bit hard on yourself. I just took a quick look at your blog, and my prefrontal cortex is OK! However, we can all improve.

]]> By: Alik Levin | Practice This http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-540 Alik Levin | Practice This Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:00:28 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-540 Great pointer. I knew already I had a room for readability improvement. Now i know how big the room is. LOL! thanks alikl <em>Alik Levin | Practice This's last blog post..<a href='http://practicethis.com/2008/04/14/emotional-intelligence-higher-order-skills/' rel="nofollow">Emotional Intelligence - Higher Order Skills</a></em> Great pointer. I knew already I had a room for readability improvement. Now i know how big the room is.

LOL!

thanks
alikl

Alik Levin | Practice This’s last blog post..Emotional Intelligence – Higher Order Skills

]]> By: Hunter Nuttall http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-288 Hunter Nuttall Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:40:03 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-288 J.D., I like that quote. While some things are complicated by necessity, many things can be made simpler. Let's take it easy on our readers' prefrontal cortexes! J.D., I like that quote. While some things are complicated by necessity, many things can be made simpler. Let’s take it easy on our readers’ prefrontal cortexes!

]]> By: J.D. http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-264 J.D. Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:09:41 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-264 You hit a great point. I like a simple little guage: "Do you make me work to hard to read your stuff?" There's another angle too, some folks on my team from other countries pointed out. For a lot of countries, English isn't their first language, so writing in simpler words and sentences is helpful. On the physical side, simpler writing is better for our brains. Our prefrontal cortex (working memory), burns out faster if it has to work too hard. I appreciate authors who express complicated concepts simply. I really don't appreciate authors who overcomplicate the simple. My favorite tip on writing is expanding nominalized sentences into full sentences (http://thebookshare.blogspot.com/2008/02/five-principles-to-improve-your.html) Basically, it means say your point with a longer, simpler setnence over a shorter, clever one (that makes your audiencw work too hard to parse it.) That said, I think purpose matters a lot. For learning, insight, and action, simple is the way to go. For "the literaray experience," complexity is the price of impact (I wouldn't want a simplified James Lee Burke) <em>J.D.'s last blog post..<a href='http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheBookShare/~3/248779109/designing-organizational-architecture.html' rel="nofollow">Designing Organizational Architecture</a></em> You hit a great point. I like a simple little guage:
“Do you make me work to hard to read your stuff?”

There’s another angle too, some folks on my team from other countries pointed out. For a lot of countries, English isn’t their first language, so writing in simpler words and sentences is helpful.

On the physical side, simpler writing is better for our brains. Our prefrontal cortex (working memory), burns out faster if it has to work too hard. I appreciate authors who express complicated concepts simply. I really don’t appreciate authors who overcomplicate the simple.

My favorite tip on writing is expanding nominalized sentences into full sentences (http://thebookshare.blogspot.com/2008/02/five-principles-to-improve-your.html) Basically, it means say your point with a longer, simpler setnence over a shorter, clever one (that makes your audiencw work too hard to parse it.)

That said, I think purpose matters a lot. For learning, insight, and action, simple is the way to go. For “the literaray experience,” complexity is the price of impact (I wouldn’t want a simplified James Lee Burke)

J.D.’s last blog post..Designing Organizational Architecture

]]> By: Hunter Nuttall . com » Blog Archive » When Good People Give Bad Financial Advice http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-207 Hunter Nuttall . com » Blog Archive » When Good People Give Bad Financial Advice Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:48:17 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-207 [...] Retirement Extreme placed 7th on my list of The 10 Most Readable Blogs (That I Like). Digg this Stumble [...] [...] Retirement Extreme placed 7th on my list of The 10 Most Readable Blogs (That I Like). Digg this Stumble [...]

]]> By: Hunter Nuttall http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-68 Hunter Nuttall Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:49:59 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-68 Stephen, you can probably improve your readability scores without too much effort. The formula is just based on the number of words per sentence and the number of syllables per word, so you would just focus on keeping those down. Of course, there are aspects of readability that aren't measured by those scores, but they're good to use as a quick objective measure. Stephen, you can probably improve your readability scores without too much effort. The formula is just based on the number of words per sentence and the number of syllables per word, so you would just focus on keeping those down. Of course, there are aspects of readability that aren’t measured by those scores, but they’re good to use as a quick objective measure.

]]> By: @Stephen | Productivity in Context http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-65 @Stephen | Productivity in Context Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:25:13 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-65 Wow, great post. Thanks for the link to the readability site. I just tested one of my own most popular posts (in search anyway) and it came to grade 12, readability 48. I suppose if I adjust it a bit, I may get more of a response...back to work. Wow, great post. Thanks for the link to the readability site. I just tested one of my own most popular posts (in search anyway) and it came to grade 12, readability 48.
I suppose if I adjust it a bit, I may get more of a response…back to work.

]]> By: Hunter Nuttall http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-62 Hunter Nuttall Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:54:59 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-62 Catherine, you're right that very few blogs have good conversations in the comments. Some blogs are just too big and get way too many comments. In this case, 1. The blog owner can only reply to a comment every now and then. 2. People don't read all the comments before writing theirs. 3. People don't check the "Notify me of followup comments via e-mail" box. The result is that people just make a comment and leave. Small blogs don't get many comments, which is to be expected. But when a new blog gets comments, it seems to me that the blog owner should respond if they want to encourage more comments. This is one of the things Barbara does so well, asking questions, getting answers, and replying to the answers to create a real discussion. Catherine, you’re right that very few blogs have good conversations in the comments.

Some blogs are just too big and get way too many comments. In this case,
1. The blog owner can only reply to a comment every now and then.
2. People don’t read all the comments before writing theirs.
3. People don’t check the “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” box.
The result is that people just make a comment and leave.

Small blogs don’t get many comments, which is to be expected. But when a new blog gets comments, it seems to me that the blog owner should respond if they want to encourage more comments. This is one of the things Barbara does so well, asking questions, getting answers, and replying to the answers to create a real discussion.

]]> By: CatherineL http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/comment-page-1/#comment-59 CatherineL Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:53:33 +0000 http://hunternuttall.com/blog/2008/01/the-10-most-readable-blogs-that-i-like/#comment-59 Interesting results Hunter - and you have a few of my favourite blogs on there too. I love how Barbara's blog inspires conversation in the comments section too. That occurs in very few blogs. By the way Steve - thanks for the reminder about cutting unnecessary adjectives. That is one of the first things I do when I'm editing something. But I seem to litter my blog with them - I don't know why. Maybe the blog has become a slush pile for rejected adjectives! Interesting results Hunter – and you have a few of my favourite blogs on there too.

I love how Barbara’s blog inspires conversation in the comments section too. That occurs in very few blogs.

By the way Steve – thanks for the reminder about cutting unnecessary adjectives. That is one of the first things I do when I’m editing something. But I seem to litter my blog with them – I don’t know why. Maybe the blog has become a slush pile for rejected adjectives!

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