While reading chapter 10 in the William Horton book, I chuckled a few times. The section on unnecessary scrolling made me think immediately about those 2-column articles as PDF’s that are sometimes required reading. Not that I am lazy, but I find it difficult to determine where to scroll to and so I just print out the articles. If the document is a book’s length, I try my best but do not usually get a full understanding of what the piece may have said. Times like these make me reflect on the assignments I give my students and whether some don’t do their homework because it is more of a hassle than it’s worth.
One other thing I considered when reading this chapter was to redefine my terms of legibility. I make it clear to students that if it is not legible, it may very-well be marked wrong. (Unless this is a learning disability, in which case we find another way to communicate). This term “legible” implies the ability to read the text or neat handwriting. There is always that one person who wants to write yellow on white paper and argues that they wrote very neatly! Some of these online design ideas really do apply to pen and paper settings as well. A contrasting color scheme is necessary not only for the visually impaired or colorblind, this is one design element that is crucial for everyone.
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This post made me laugh- it reminded me of a time in 6th grade social studies when I lost my pencil, couldn't find one to borrow, and wrote a quiz out in fluorescent yellow crayon- on white paper. I never heard the end of that!
But I also sympathize with your pdf plight. Pdf's are great when you intend to print them- hardly any other document format beats it, but yes, I am queen of just moving on to another site/page, because somebody had the nerve to make me scroll!
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