- From: Anne Pemberton <apembert@crosslink.net>
- Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 14:31:26 -0400
- To: dd@w3.org
- Cc: Al Gilman <asgilman@iamdigex.net>, w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Hello all, This is my first post to this list, but felt I could answer the following questions. At 05:36 PM 6/22/1999 +0200, Daniel Dardailler wrote: >First, can we come up with an objective rating system, vs a subjective >one, in the area of readability ? >An objective system is one that can be used reliabily by different >persons and still give the same answer: e.g. I look at a page, I >looked at the definition of reading level 0 to 4, and I say, this one >is a 3, and so would anyone with the understanding of the definitions. Objective rating system exists; text is measured in "grade levels" for readability. It's even possible to rate your own writing when you run the spell and grammar checker when you are finished writing. Both Word Perfect and Word 97 offer the option for Readability Statistics to be included with the spelling and grammar check. This site, found by looking up readability test in alta-vista, seems to be helping folks in the medical field do reradable documents: http://www.med.mun.ca/hic/Readability.htm The page tells you how to use either Word Perfect or Word to determine the readability of a document, and suggests that you use a readability level less than 10.0 in medical office documents (with a caveat to limit medical jargon) so that patients with less than an PHD can understand what they are signing. And pages with a little advice on increasing readability of text at: http://www.synpub.com/readabil.htm http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/webclass/read.htm Hope this is some help in understanding that the task is do-able. Anne Pemberton Anne L. Pemberton http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1 http://www.erols.com/stevepem/apembert apembert@crosslink.net Enabling Support Foundation http://www.enabling.org
Received on Tuesday, 22 June 1999 14:23:03 UTC