The Effects of Line Length on Children and Adults' Perceived and Actual Online Reading Performance

Abstract

This study examined reading time, reading efficiency, perceived reading efficiency, and preference for three online-text length conditions, narrow, medium, and full, for both adults and children. No differences were found for either reading time or efficiency for either adults or children. However, adults preferred shorter line lengths to full-screen line lengths. In examining perception of reading efficiency, the results were mixed. For adults, the full text lengths were perceived as providing the optimal amount of scrolling in comparison to the two other narrower line length conditions. The narrowest line length condition was perceived as promoting the highest amount of reader concentration, while the medium line-length condition was considered to be the most optimally presented length for reading. Examining children's perceptions of reading efficiency for each of the line lengths revealed no significant differences in perceived reading efficiency or preference.