Flow and Readability¶

Flow¶

Organize the sections and paragraphs logically so that they flow elegantly—transitions between paragraphs, ideas, and sections can help the flow.

Varied paragraph and sentence length¶

Avoid overly long blocks of text. Sentences and paragraphs of different lengths provide visual variation and help your reader consume the information more easily.

Headings¶

Use headings to organize your work visually. Relevant titles and headers assist the reader by breaking up the copy and defining the purpose of each section or block of text .

Using important key terms or phrases in subheads can improve SEO and help search engines accurately interpret the intent of your content.

Lists¶

Use bulleted lists to make information more “visually digestible” for readers. When reading online, people scan for the information that interests them. Pulling information out of prose into bullets can help a reader find what they want faster. Use bullets when you have a list of three or more points.

Punctuate bulleted lists according to the Lists section of Google’s developer documentation style guide.

Helpful bulleted lists often resemble key-value pairs. The “key” is a keyword or statement of the concept. The “value” is the explanation or further information.

Set the key in bold, followed by a colon, to highlight what is important (don’t bury the lead!) and increase visual clarity. Capitalize the first word of the value. Where possible, use similar formulations for every key on the list.

For example:

• Something important: Now I am backing that up somehow.

Make the first few words bold to emphasize the beginning of a sentence:

• Something important starts off my sentence and I keep going naturally.

Visual aids¶

Use (relevant!) photos, videos, diagrams or illustrations where possible and appropriate. They help provide visual interest and relief in long articles.

Use callouts, blockquotes, and display quotes to highlight or convey information efficiently and provide visual interest.