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Maybe those surfer folks that can't hardly read appreciate simpler content like "buy it here" or "click here now" or "get big savings".
How many webmasters can read above a seventh grade level? Don't be bashful ... if you don't reply, I'll understand.
Nick
That's why I live in the UK ;)
i know that the UK > reading - 95% of the populous can read at least to the level of a 16 year old.
caine Is that because 10% of the population is under 16 :) or do you mean the level at which a 16 year old should be able to read? If so do you have a reference for this statistic please?
Reference: Book: Jeremy Paxman's > Portrait of the English (2001). Fact is buried somewhere in their, but i can't remember exactly where. Will have a browse through it sometime and drop you a sticky of the page number.
FACT - half the people on this planet are below average intelligence.
FACT - almost every client i get seems to be from that group, often at the lower end of the scale.
TIP - write content that the average 8 year old can understand and won't get bored sh*tl*ss with in less than 10 seconds and you can't go far wrong.
When I quoted the top post figure of "only 25% of Americans can read at a eight grade level or above" she responded that it is about the same in the UK. To be specific she said that "24% of the UK population is functionally illiterate". She gave a few references one of which was a "Basic Skills Agency report in 2000".
The fact that they are very roughly comparable figures and so high in the UK and in the US is interesting and I think demonstrates the complete failure of the educational system in both countries in recent years.
> FACT - almost every client i get seems to be from that group, often at the lower end of the scale.
appreciated warmly.
I think NFFC coined it a while back when he talked of his children browsing site's that he built to make sure that they were intellectually accessible to the vast majority of Joe Surfer's out there.
Hence as you say Crazy - if an 8 yr. old can read it and surf it then the vast majority of the online buying public should be able to also.
P.G.Wodehouse in one of his pre-WWII Berty Wooster stories has a character who produces Broadway shows who relies on the judgement of his 8 or 10 year-old son because his son has the same mental age as the typical audience.
understood. does this mean they don't read newspapers (remember what Vygotsky said 'language is thought'). That premise being generally accepted within the Schools of Philosphy and Psychology.
So if functionally illiterate, then their understanding of the world, of friendship, of pretty much everything is degraded from your average punter down the pub. Possibly true.
I do accept what your saying - George, though i disagree with aspects, this isn't the time or place for a conversation that is capable of dissolving into a theoritical treatise into the nature of language.
Though drawing back to previously said statement as my view towards what constitute's an accessible site, above is good stuff.
Very few of the 25% use the internet either imo.
Arithmitic not Gambling.
I think the prison population represents a very small sector of the adult population of the UK.
He said it was his experience that the USA educated its top 2% to be the best in the world.... and the remainder to be a work force. Personally, I can't comment but is this what unlies the comments appearing in this post?
I note the comments about the UK and I see university systems in Australia that produce graduates who can't spell or write to save themselves.
Do we now live in a world where the 3 R's have less importance or are we doing a grave disservice to current generations?
He said it was his experience that the USA educated its top 2% to be the best in the world.... and the remainder to be a work force.
I never got the memo. But since I'm a lawyer, I guess that puts me in the 98%.
lawman
Hence as you say Crazy - if an 8 yr. old can read it and surf it then the vast majority of the online buying public should be able to also.
That really reminds me of my father-in-law. I was over there the other night and he was looking for something on a site he said he'd seen before. Anyway he literally spent 20 minutes typing in the same search term at that site thinking he'd find that page.
After about 40 searches for the same term, I couldn't let him suffer any more. So I helped him out but talk about banging your head against the wall!
sorry, but lawyers are not not part of the human race and therefore not part of the 98% either :)
i'm having real difficulty finding staff for web development and SEO (gotta be local people so please don't send me hundreds of sticky mails). i give applicants a quick trial - should only take them 5 minutes. i've trialled people with degrees, even one with a masters degree, but not one seems capable of stringing a sentence together. their spelling is atrocious. they don't even think to do something really simple like open MS Word and run the spell checker.
i think i'm going to stop looking for web developers with good english and look for people with good english and train them in web development.
i'm having real difficulty finding staff for web development and SEO (gotta be local people so please don't send me hundreds of sticky mails). i give applicants a quick trial - should only take them 5 minutes. i've trialled people with degrees, even one with a masters degree, but not one seems capable of stringing a sentence together. their spelling is atrocious. they don't even think to do something really simple like open MS Word and run the spell checker.i think i'm going to stop looking for web developers with good english and look for people with good english and train them in web development.
Hey Crazy_Fool:
I've reworded your post. Whaddya think? Will you hire me?
Finding web development and SEO personnel who are able to use English properly is difficult. In an attempt to find qualified staff, I test all applicants. I have even tested persons with college degrees, including one with a post-graduate degree. So far none has been able to compose a sentence without glaring grammatical or syntactical errors. Furthermore, no applicant has even used a spell checker to correct obviously misspelled words.In order to alleviate this problem, I'm going to employ a new strategy. Rather than advertising for web developers who can use English properly, I'm now looking for persons who have a command of the language that I can train for web development.
[edited by: lawman at 2:12 am (utc) on Mar. 5, 2003]
Ive always thought it a bit unfair. With the Us having a large proportion of new immigrants many have to struggle with 2 or 3 languages. Comparing to other countries which have less immigration is a bit iffy.
My ex-father-in-law could never "find his glasses" when he needed to fill out paperwork. When he was checking himself into a treatment program at the hospital, I read the application to him and filled it out for him (with much stammering and blushing on his part, as I went through the "have you ever had..." medical history checklist), and he just signed his name. Afterwards, I asked my husband whether or not his dad knew how to read... and he said he honestly couldn't remember ever seeing him reading. But it's not something he'd ever considered before. People who do know how to read just assume everyone else does too.
Have you ever gone to a fast food restaurant and noticed the clerk mouthing the words on the register labels as they ring up your order? That will mostly go away as soon as they get the common items memorized... but if you're the type of person who says "hold the pickles, extra mayo, no mustard, double cheese" you can count on your order being slow, and probably messed up. Wonder why?
