Re: Readability question?

[Milan Davidovic <shl_ctf -at- yahoo -dot- ca>]

--- Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:
> Want to prove this to your own satisfaction? Take
> any sentence, and randomize the word order;
> better still, rearrange the words so that  
> the sentences are mutually contradictory. For extra
> points, randomize the punctuation. If your
> readability formula doesn't distinguish between
> the two sentences, you've just proved that
> your formula will not detect incomprehensible text.
> It certainly won't identify illogical, inconsistent,
> incomplete, dangerous, or factually incorrect text.

I've seen no readability formula that claimed to work
on gibberish, nor worked with any technical writer who
produced gibberish. I therefore wouldn't trust such a
test anymore than I'd try judging the quality of a
baseball bat by playing golf with it.

The thing to look at is the definition of readability
inherent in the formula. What factors does it take
into consideration, and what does it leave out? You
then have to decide whether the formula does the job
for your texts and context.

Milan
http://altmilan.blogspot.com
http://www.terminus1525.ca/studio/view/2758

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