Improving Skimmability: Experimental UX research study tracking screen-based scanning speed

As information has become more widely accessible in the digital environment, one of the most essential and prevalent interactions between humans and technology has been the reading of digital text. The immense volume of text that’s easily accessible to us often outstrips the time we have available to read it. The purpose of this research project is to examine how information processing and reading in a digital environment has evolved over the years. Moving forward, with the lens of a user experience (UX) specialist, I review the research that examines the user interface design of text presentation on the web and identify elements that facilitate scanning in a digital reading environment. In doing so, I introduce (with the support of professor Randolph Bias) a new method of presenting text, called Mid-Word-Graying (MWG). MWG modifies the text darkness, or weight, of the inner-letters of a word, making the outside letters slightly bolder, in order to reduce crowding and aid our word recognition ability. In order to empirically determine whether MWG facilitates faster scanning of online text, I help design and then conduct a quantitative experimental research study that tests whether participants can scan for information faster using the MWG or regular view of text. The results of this study are then analyzed, summarized, and presented with further research and design recommendations.