Short paragraphs – Missionary blog tip #2

I suppose the title says it all, but let me add a few more whys and hows.

For better or for worse, when people read on the internet, they tend to scan.  For better or for worse, many people are also poor readers, and so do better with short sentences and paragraphs.

So here are some guidelines.  Some people have said that 2-3 sentences per paragraph should be the max, but sometimes that can be hard.  Another common bit of wisdom is to keep the width of your paragraph, on the page, greater than its height.

You can also make a blog entry easier to read by using:

• Separate lines and bullets, like these
• Bold or italicized text
• Titles
• Font colours

Some very simple HTML can make this happen – it will take you about 5 minutes to learn, and it will make your blog look a lot more interesting.  Don’t over do it, or it will just make the blog look chaotic.  If everything is emphasized, it cancels out the effect!

See some examples of the above in blogs such as Kurt and Sally Kovach, Dr. Klaw and E.T., and Missionary’s Day.