Section 5.1 Break up text into “chunks” and short lists

It’s very important not to overwhelm your users with content regardless of screen size. Here are a few things that can cause web users to skip over content:

• Dense “walls” of text
• Long sentences
• Paragraphs with multiple numbers in the text
• Long words
• Paragraphs with more than 3 lines^{25, 51, 53}

Additionally, be mindful of working memory. Breaking up content into manageable “chunks” or bulleted or numbered lists can help. For example:

• Use clear, stand-alone sections or “chunks” of text with headings.^{53, 54, 104}
• Make sure each chunk of text has only 1 theme or idea.⁹¹
• Turn sentences into lists when possible.^{53, 54}
• If your list has more than 7 items, break it up into sub-lists⁹¹ with sub-headings.