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Spidercat
Spidercat
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Wall of Text

A wall of text is something that viewer hate running into. Even if a viewer loves reading, the volume of text on a page can be enough to drive a viewer away from it.

Think of it like a textbook. Certainly there are those textbooks that can put you to sleep right away, and there are even some textbooks that are easy to read, and then there are some non-fiction books that can not only be easy to read, but enjoyable. So what is the difference?

Part of it is probably the writing style. I mean, let's be honest, people don't go into writing textbooks because they love writing, they write textbooks to share information. So what ends up happening is the writer starts putting everything they want to share into the book, and before they even realize it, they've got pages upon pages of pure text. While this might get the point across, it becomes impersonable, and a list of data that the human brain can't handle.

There's a funny little "switch" in the human brain that dislikes text, and when it sees a lot of it, it becomes frustrated and "turns off". Fictional writers have it easy, as they can create places and scenarios that demand attention from the brain, keeping it 's attention. But that's a bit more difficult with non-fiction.

So what can we do if we have a lot of information that we want to share with the viewer, but are finding ourselves writing a wall of text?

  • The easiest thing to do is break it up into sections. Not necessarily like chapters, but movements into a new topic or thought. This helps with the flow of the page and keeps the viewer's mind from switching off. Sort of like the old saying "Variety is the spice of life".

  • Put your best foot forward. Sometimes you can cheat, and put the most important parts of your argument at the front. That way even if the viewer doesn't feel like investing the time to read all of your answer, they might still walk away feeling like they've gained something by reading the first part.

  • Break t up with pictures and formatting. If it's relevant, why not show some pictures or diagrams to help your argument. Pictures speak louder than text, and the human brain likes ordered lists.

I think this answer could be improved. See: [Why is my answer being Down-Voted or Ignored?](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/788/481\)

Wall of Text

A wall of text is something that viewer hate running into. Even if a viewer loves reading, the volume of text on a page can be enough to drive a viewer away from it.

Think of it like a textbook. Certainly there are those textbooks that can put you to sleep right away, and there are even some textbooks that are easy to read, and then there are some non-fiction books that can not only be easy to read, but enjoyable. So what is the difference?

Part of it is probably the writing style. I mean, let's be honest, people don't go into writing textbooks because they love writing, they write textbooks to share information. So what ends up happening is the writer starts putting everything they want to share into the book, and before they even realize it, they've got pages upon pages of pure text. While this might get the point across, it becomes impersonable, and a list of data that the human brain can't handle.

There's a funny little "switch" in the human brain that dislikes text, and when it sees a lot of it, it becomes frustrated and "turns off". Fictional writers have it easy, as they can create places and scenarios that demand attention from the brain, keeping it 's attention. But that's a bit more difficult with non-fiction.

So what can we do if we have a lot of information that we want to share with the viewer, but are finding ourselves writing a wall of text?

  • The easiest thing to do is break it up into sections. Not necessarily like chapters, but movements into a new topic or thought. This helps with the flow of the page and keeps the viewer's mind from switching off. Sort of like the old saying "Variety is the spice of life".

  • Put your best foot forward. Sometimes you can cheat, and put the most important parts of your argument at the front. That way even if the viewer doesn't feel like investing the time to read all of your answer, they might still walk away feeling like they've gained something by reading the first part.

  • Break t up with pictures and formatting. If it's relevant, why not show some pictures or diagrams to help your argument. Pictures speak louder than text, and the human brain likes ordered lists.

Wall of Text

A wall of text is something that viewer hate running into. Even if a viewer loves reading, the volume of text on a page can be enough to drive a viewer away from it.

Think of it like a textbook. Certainly there are those textbooks that can put you to sleep right away, and there are even some textbooks that are easy to read, and then there are some non-fiction books that can not only be easy to read, but enjoyable. So what is the difference?

Part of it is probably the writing style. I mean, let's be honest, people don't go into writing textbooks because they love writing, they write textbooks to share information. So what ends up happening is the writer starts putting everything they want to share into the book, and before they even realize it, they've got pages upon pages of pure text. While this might get the point across, it becomes impersonable, and a list of data that the human brain can't handle.

There's a funny little "switch" in the human brain that dislikes text, and when it sees a lot of it, it becomes frustrated and "turns off". Fictional writers have it easy, as they can create places and scenarios that demand attention from the brain, keeping it 's attention. But that's a bit more difficult with non-fiction.

So what can we do if we have a lot of information that we want to share with the viewer, but are finding ourselves writing a wall of text?

  • The easiest thing to do is break it up into sections. Not necessarily like chapters, but movements into a new topic or thought. This helps with the flow of the page and keeps the viewer's mind from switching off. Sort of like the old saying "Variety is the spice of life".

  • Put your best foot forward. Sometimes you can cheat, and put the most important parts of your argument at the front. That way even if the viewer doesn't feel like investing the time to read all of your answer, they might still walk away feeling like they've gained something by reading the first part.

  • Break t up with pictures and formatting. If it's relevant, why not show some pictures or diagrams to help your argument. Pictures speak louder than text, and the human brain likes ordered lists.

I think this answer could be improved. See: [Why is my answer being Down-Voted or Ignored?](http://meta.pets.stackexchange.com/a/788/481\)

Source Link
Spidercat
Spidercat
  • 15.6k
  • 11
  • 21

Wall of Text

A wall of text is something that viewer hate running into. Even if a viewer loves reading, the volume of text on a page can be enough to drive a viewer away from it.

Think of it like a textbook. Certainly there are those textbooks that can put you to sleep right away, and there are even some textbooks that are easy to read, and then there are some non-fiction books that can not only be easy to read, but enjoyable. So what is the difference?

Part of it is probably the writing style. I mean, let's be honest, people don't go into writing textbooks because they love writing, they write textbooks to share information. So what ends up happening is the writer starts putting everything they want to share into the book, and before they even realize it, they've got pages upon pages of pure text. While this might get the point across, it becomes impersonable, and a list of data that the human brain can't handle.

There's a funny little "switch" in the human brain that dislikes text, and when it sees a lot of it, it becomes frustrated and "turns off". Fictional writers have it easy, as they can create places and scenarios that demand attention from the brain, keeping it 's attention. But that's a bit more difficult with non-fiction.

So what can we do if we have a lot of information that we want to share with the viewer, but are finding ourselves writing a wall of text?

  • The easiest thing to do is break it up into sections. Not necessarily like chapters, but movements into a new topic or thought. This helps with the flow of the page and keeps the viewer's mind from switching off. Sort of like the old saying "Variety is the spice of life".

  • Put your best foot forward. Sometimes you can cheat, and put the most important parts of your argument at the front. That way even if the viewer doesn't feel like investing the time to read all of your answer, they might still walk away feeling like they've gained something by reading the first part.

  • Break t up with pictures and formatting. If it's relevant, why not show some pictures or diagrams to help your argument. Pictures speak louder than text, and the human brain likes ordered lists.