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| The Property of Readibilty |
TL;DR: Use this Readability Analyzer to estimate the readability of a passage of text using several different metrics. Focus on the Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level test.
New Tools: Readability.
in a money-making blog, it is advisable to tailor the language to the audience. Choose a grade level and then match the lengths of words and the length of sentences to give that grade level. According to Siteimprove, there are seven major readability tests. They all use metrics of sentence and word length to determine the complexity. Some give the result as the grade level required to read it.
- Automated Readability Index (ARI) is a readability test that works well with English and Western European languages. The test uses long words and long sentences to calculate a readability score. The score gives an indication of how difficult the page is to read. Each score can be matched to an equivalent reading ability level.
- Coleman-Liau is a readability test designed primarily for English text. The test focuses on long words and long sentences. A score can only be calculated using this test if the content exceeds 100 words. The test produces an approximate representation of the US grade level needed to comprehend the text.
- Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level is a readability test designed for English text. The test focuses on polysyllabic words and long sentences. A score is returned which can be related to the approximate US grade level needed to comprehend the text.
- Flesch Kincaid Reading Ease is a readability test designed for English text. The test focuses on polysyllabic words and long sentences. It is widely used in US government as a way of ensuring that documents and forms are understandable for the "average" American. Results are measured on a scale of 0-100, where 0 is very complicated to read and 100 is very easy to read.
- Gunning Fog is a readability test just for English texts. The test focuses on complex words (polysyllabic words) and long sentences. A score can only be calculated using this test if the content of the page is over 100 words, making it a hard test to apply to web pages.
- LIX is a readability test that performs well on most of the Western European languages. The test focuses on total words, the number of sentences and number of long words (more than 6 characters). A score is returned which gives an indication of reading ease.
- SMOG is a readability test just for English texts. The test focuses primarily on polysyllabic words. A score can only be calculated using this test if the content of the page has at least 30 sentences, making it a hard test to apply to all web pages. The test produces an approximate representation of the US grade level needed to comprehend the text.
My major objection to these tests is that the focus being on "readability," the results reward small words and short sentences.
The Datayze Readability Analyzer estimates the readability of a passage of text using the Flesch Reading Ease, Fog Scale Level, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and other metrics.
