100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, 2nd Edition

18 People Read Faster with a Longer Line Length, but they Prefer a Shorter Line Length

Have you ever had to decide what column width to use on a screen? Should it be a wide column, with 100 characters per line? Or a short column, with 50 characters per line? Or something in between? The answer depends on whether you want people to read faster or to like the page.

Mary Dyson (2004) conducted research on line length and combed other studies to determine what line length people prefer. Her work showed that 100 characters per line is the optimal length for onscreen reading speed, but we prefer a short or medium line length (45 to 72 characters per line).

Longer line lengths are easier to read because they interfere less with the flow of saccades ...