Cut Through the Clutter

10 free readability calculators

Test your clarity with these cool tools

WordsCount’s SMOG Calculator measures the readability of your copy based on sentence length and syllable length and delivers the grade level a reader would need to have achieved to easily read your copy.… Read the full article

Talk it out

Run the ‘Hey, did you hear?’ test

Having trouble nailing that “business casual” tone you’re aiming for? Try reading your message aloud — after a friendly greeting or phrase:

“Good morning, honey!

… Read the full article

Benchmark readability against the BBC

How does your clarity stack up?

The BBC covers the most serious news known to man — West Bank stabbings, friendly fire air strikes, Justin Bieber’s bad behavior — and does so in an average of 4.7-character words.… Read the full article

Stop wasting readers’ time

They ‘get visibly angry’ at verbose sites

Here’s an interesting dichotomy: Killing time is the killer app for mobile devices. But mobile users are in a hurry and “get visibly angry” at verbose sites that waste their time.… Read the full article

Write with your eraser

Newspaper + marker = poetry for Austin Kleon

“Instead of starting with a blank page, poet Austin Kleon grabs a newspaper and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need.”

— NPR’s “Morning Edition”

Talk about writing with an eraser.… Read the full article

Conduct a sound check

Read your copy aloud

When Don Murray arrived in the newsroom for his first day on the job as writing coach for the Boston Globe, he turned to his new boss and said: “I can tell you who your three best writers are.”

Then the Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work proceeded to do just that.… Read the full article