People read your blog in many different ways

I read a lot of tech blog posts and have written a few of my own. I think a lot about the varied ways people read.

How thoroughly do people read?

• Some readers read every word from start to finish. (I suspect this is rare.)
• Some readers skim.
• Some readers don’t read your post at all.

How much of the language do they understand?

• Some readers read in a language they’re fluent in.
• Some readers read in a language they understand, but not fluently.
• Some readers read an automated translation because they don’t speak the language.
• Some readers have great vocabularies and understand when you use words like “synecdoche”.
• Some readers have smaller vocabularies and benefit from simpler words. (This is me.)

What software are readers using to consume your post?

• Readers use varying screen sizes. Phones, laptops, tablets, maybe even refrigerators.
• Readers use varying font sizes. For example, I increase my display’s font size for readability.
• Some readers listen to your post with text-to-speech.
• Some readers use a “reader mode” to remove distractions.
• Some readers are reading your post in an RSS reader or email inbox.
• Some readers read with a braille display.

What format are people reading?

• Some readers read the original version of your writing.
• Some readers read a computer-generated summary.
• Some people are experiencing a copy of your content. (This happened to me.)

What might make it difficult for someone to read your post?

• Some people have disabilities that make it harder to read. Some of these disabilities are permanent and others are temporary.
• Some people are in a mental state that makes it harder to read. Maybe they’re tired or overworked.
• Some readers have slow or unreliable connections.
• Some readers disable JavaScript which might break your site.

Who is reading your post?

• Some readers are human people.
• Some readers are search engine scrapers.
• Some readers are training machine learning models.
• Some readers are saving a copy for preservation, such as the Wayback Machine.
• Most people are not reading your post.

I’m not an expert at this, but I try to keep all this in mind while I write. I try to use simple, short English. I like headings and emphasis for easy skimming. I refer to “Writing for Web Accessibility” as a resource. But I still have a lot to improve!