Reading online

1. Getting set up

  • Get comfortable
  • Avoid distractions (e.g. turn of your phone)
  • Create a study space that is separate from your relaxing space and keep it tidy.
  • Prepare what you are going to read and close all other tabs and apps.
Tech set up
  • Go for a larger screen
  • Use warm background colours such as Peach, Orange or Yellow which are beneficial for readability (Rello and Bigham, 2017)
  • Choose a font which you find easy to read, like Arial or Montserrat
  • Make the font larger. For example, you can zoom in on web browsers using Ctrl + (or Cmd + on a Mac). Programs such as Adobe Acrobat have further features:

Illustration of an Adobe acrobat interface. There is a pointer to the top left corner of a browser that says "open the view tab". The next instruction says "zoom to make text larger". The next instruction after that explains that "read mode" fits page layout to your screen. Finally, there is a selection on the drop down menu called "read out loud", which enables text-to-speech

2. Engage with the text

  • Reading is more successful when you actively engage with the text. Make sure you are highlighting and bookmarking useful sections that you may want to use in your assignments.
  • Make notes as you go, either on the screen or on paper. These can be definitions of new terminology, your thoughts and analysis on the topics and concepts, and how the text links to other things you’ve read or an assignment you’re working on.

3. Take breaks

It is important to give the eyes a rest. Optometrists recommend the 20/20/20 technique:

Illustration that says Take a 20 second break every 20 minutes and look at something 20 feet away to prevent digital eye strain

(Chou, 2018)

4. Further resources

There is a huge range of resources to help with reading online, such as audio note takers, text-to-speech apps, and browser plugins which improve readability. For some useful examples, try https://diversityandability.com/resources.

You may also be surprised by the amount of features that already exist in programmes you use every day. For details on exploring these features on all of your devices, try https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/impairment/vision.

References

Chou, B. (2018) Deconstructing the 20-20-20 Rule for Digital Eye Strain. Available at: https://www.optometrytimes.com/view/deconstructing-20-20-20-rule-digital-eye-strain (Accessed 4 August 2020).

Open University (2020) Techniques for Reading Online Material. Available at: https://help.open.ac.uk/techniques-for-reading-online-material (Accessed 3 August 2020).

Rello, L. and Bigham, J. P. (2017) Good Background Colors for Readers: A Study of People with and without Dyslexia. Available at:
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jbigham/pubs/pdfs/2017/colors.pdf (Accessed 4 August 2020).