They want to see the big picture of the information, understand the relationship between the whole and the parts, and move directly to the information that matches their mental models and specific questions. In this structure, the writer builds information to meet three criteria. We structure information for scanning Web readers scan. Jakob Neilsen's 1997 study of Web readability indicates 79 percent of their test users scan any new page they encounter. In our work with businesses and students, we've found approximately 95 percent scan a document, rather than reading word for word.
Readers look for structure.
They read topic sentences, often ignoring the paragraph details. They focus on bullets and highlighted words, because these elements show contrast. We maintain consistency Web readers seek consistency. To help them, we must ensure the Web structure can be navigated without users re-creating mental models every time they click a page. The same holds true for text.