marmalade web design london - Blog

The Effects of Line Length of Reading Online

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:08:00 +0000

In a recent study on the effects of line length on reading speed, comprehension and user statisfaction conducted by the Software Usability ResearchLaboratory (SURL) at Wichita State University it was found that 95 character per line (cpl) was the most efficient overall.

The Procedure

The study was conducted in a controlled environment using local files to reduce download time, a previous and next button and IE6 as the prefered browser. Each participant read eight short news articles with two news articles for each line length, 35, 55, 75 & 95 character per line. After reading each article and a reading satisfaction questionnaire after each set. A final questionnaire was filled in following the last article.

The Results

Reading efficiency was calculated by multiplying the reading speed by the percent correct on the comprehension questions within the questionnaire. As you can see in the above graph there is a significant difference between 35cpl and 95cpl.

What does this mean?

There is pretty much one thing to take away from this, if you are a publisher of great…

The Google Penalty Shoot-out!

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:27:00 +0100

Getting Over It*

Ok, so your site's up against the Google defenders and you're finding it impossible to get that all important ball (read: Keyphrase) in the back of the net, it could be that you've suffered a Google Penalty.

Below is a list of penalty shoot-outs that would likely be the cause of those enviously talented defenders (John Terry eat your heart out) keeping you from that goal:

On-site Penalties:

Duplicate Content

Rest assured duplicate content alone can not be the only cause for receiving a black mark from Google, however Google will not index any content that it considers to be duplicated. So be warned - if your site consists of a lot of the stuff (pulled in from an RSS feed/articles that are featured elsewhere within the World Wide Web) the likelihood is that it will suffer as a result.

Playing Hide & Seek

It may have been fun in the playground but Google frowns heavily when it feels tricked (a grumpy Google is not a pretty Google) – never, ever be tempted to hide any text, keywords or links…

Charity begins in a boat.

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:05:00 +0000

The Marmalade team would like to wish James Adair and Ben Stenning the best of luck, when they embark on an epic journey across the Indian Ocean in April of this year.

Rowing 3,000 miles, the couple are raising money for charity, and asked Marmalade to help out with a website to show the amazing work they were doing.

You can read the full details on the BBC website, and see their lovely website here.

Marmy Christmas Everybody

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:46:00 +0000

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our clients, admirers, suppliers, lovers, haters, staff, cleaners, friends, and families!

Click here for some turkey baste fun!

Mind the Gap.

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:24:00 +0100

So as the news stories, blogs and Twitter posts regarding Gap's failed new logo release, grow in significance, we're all starting to wonder if it wasn't just a genius piece of PR. There have even been some spoof sites set up.

Conspiracy theorists are even now convincing themselves that this was all just a ruse to generate PR for the existing brand. Our suspicions were first aroused, when we noted @chadengle's Twitter post. What a great idea, we thought.

Then the penny dropped. What better way to generate a buzz than to cause a stir in the design community, which is now so well followed and retweeted that in minutes a simple rebrand story can go global, and become the most searched for news story.

What did Gap actually change? Its website logo? How long did that take? Suddenly we're all supporting the 'good old Gap seriffed logo'. We all want it back, we never really noticed before, but isn't it great? A classic, really! Its now back as it was, but the story will live on, especially when its finally revealed that it was this year's biggest PR story.

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