How to Read ReadyMade Magazine
Intro: How to Read ReadyMade Magazine
I love ReadyMade magazine and have been a semi-frequent purchaser, and now subscriber, since issue 5. Reading about other projects is inspiring stuff. I rarely make any of the projects, I'm usually inspired to do something else, but it's still awesome.
The only damper on this parade of Awesomeness is that the instructions can be tough to read. So let's fix that.
The only damper on this parade of Awesomeness is that the instructions can be tough to read. So let's fix that.
STEP 1: Open It Up
Open up an issue of ReadyMade and go to the project section, the meat of the magazine where you can read instructions for making something cool. This one is for making a camera mount for your dashboard.
On the web there is infinite space to work with. In a magazine the writers get one or two pictures and a few hundred words to describe their project. To get the most out of their column inches, the folks at ReadyMade cram all the instructions back-to-back, forming one solid column of text.
This technique is annoying when reading because it's easy to get lost on the page. When actually doing a project and going back and forth from work to reading it's even worse. This affects me more than most since I've always had a hard time reading text on a page to begin with.
To make this easier, I like to add a visual aid so that my eyes don't get lost.
On the web there is infinite space to work with. In a magazine the writers get one or two pictures and a few hundred words to describe their project. To get the most out of their column inches, the folks at ReadyMade cram all the instructions back-to-back, forming one solid column of text.
This technique is annoying when reading because it's easy to get lost on the page. When actually doing a project and going back and forth from work to reading it's even worse. This affects me more than most since I've always had a hard time reading text on a page to begin with.
To make this easier, I like to add a visual aid so that my eyes don't get lost.
STEP 2: Highlight
The visual aid is the yellow hue from a highlighter. If you're in school you probably already have one and if you work in an office you can find one near the Post-Its. Just make sure you put it back when you're done, OK?
All you're going to do is highlight every even step in the process. So get started by highlighting the second step.
All you're going to do is highlight every even step in the process. So get started by highlighting the second step.
STEP 3: Keep Highlighting
Like I said, you're highlighting every even step, so highlight step 4, step 6, step 8,...
Less than a minute later you'll be done!
Less than a minute later you'll be done!
STEP 4: Get Ready to Rock
With all of the yellow shapes on the page it's easier to find your last position and get back into the instructions. Here's another example with the process applied to a tutorial on building a chair.
It's a simple trick, but it's helped me out a ton in wading though all the copy.
It's a simple trick, but it's helped me out a ton in wading though all the copy.
10 Comments
j a y . t e e . 17 years ago
Jen from ReadyMade mag here. We RM staffers just wanted to let you know that your concerns have not gone unheard! The feedback is mucho appreciated—and we're trying to figure out how to resolve the length problems with our project instructions.
In the meantime, your wish has been granted: To say "thanks" your editorial eagle eye, we're extending your subscription by a year. ;)
underskrift 13 years ago
WingDings 16 years ago
fungus amungus 17 years ago
underskrift 13 years ago
coolguy 15 years ago
If you pull out the information and present it in a format that is easy to skim or pick out individual parts (ex. bullet list, delimited parts) then you have a much higher chance that the people reading will go through the whole thing and not just pass over it.
Organizing content in this manner is a surefire way to increase conversion times (people stay on the site longer) and lose fewer readers. With this practice becoming practically a standard of web publishing and more people moving to the internet for information/entertainment, expect to lose more readers to impatience because the content isn't easy to pick apart like a website.
Look at the way this site is done. It's hard not to camp out here for hours link-hopping and checking out cool stuff. I haven't been on since before they added the PDF feature, talk about an awesome idea.
sabbott 16 years ago
JakeTobak 17 years ago
zachninme 17 years ago
fungus amungus 17 years ago