I need to test and discuss this new writing method

[Paul_Tromba]

Are you able to read the following with more focus and speed than how you normally read?

If so, I want to discuss if this could be an alternative writing format for future and past writings. If not, it was a good test nonetheless.

 

[Paul_Michaels]

I think it made me read it slower. Like it jumbled up where to look. But I suffer from dyslexia.
So, take what you will from it

Plus it would be a pain in the ass to select ever couple of letters and bold them manually.

 

[LilRora]

It kinda depends. I definitely can read way faster than usual if I try to. I'm pretty sure it's because our brains have seen so many words they have an autocomplete grown in. Focus is hard to tell because the sample is so short, but I feel like it might have more to do with reading more information in the same amount of time it takes us to get distracted, rather than actually improving the capability to focus.

Also, I see two issues with this. One, as soon as we go into some more technical, literary or just uncommon words and phrases, there will be hiccups when we either get our whole rhytm broken by a word we don't get or we misread a word only to realize three lines later there was an issue somewhere, and we have to go back look for it. A closely related thing is that if there are any names, especially complicated and/or foreign ones, we would need to get used to them before we could go on smoothly.

Second issue, I'm not sure how it would fare in regards to internalizing and retaining the information we read. When I read, I tend to imagine what I read in my head, and there would likely be issues with dialogues and some action scenes that are designed to flow fast or slow, as they would either feel totally rushed or weirdly faster than the prose and structure makes us think they should.

It's probably just a trade off. You could make it amazing if you used it well, but actually using it well is a challenge on its own, and it would most likely not be for everyone.

 

[Nahrenne]

Are you able to read the following with more focus and speed than how you normally read?
View attachment 25736
If so, I want to discuss if this could be an alternative writing format for future and past writings. If not, it was a good test nonetheless.

I ended up hyper-focusing on each word and got a headache afterwards.


X

 

[SailusGebel]

I think I read it slower.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Requires further testing.

 

[Simple_Russian_Boi]

Huh, a picture?
AH, I'M BLIND!
*suffers in dark mode*

But if we're talking seriously, it worked... somewhat. I was too focused in the beginning, but then I understood what was going on.
I think if I knew the trick before hand, it would've worked from the start.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

Feels weird, it's how I read when I skim read... it weird to see it in bold the only bits I read.

 

[Lysander_Works]

It was slower for me to read it that way. Not sure what that means.

 

[LORD_SHAXX]

It's a bit annoying ngl. I cam see how it helps people focus but for me it's just distracting

 

[Yule]

It does read faster, so I think it's working to an extent for me! But it also makes it harder to read slower, and when I read fast I tend to re-read because I feel like I misread or skipped things, so...in the end I think it's doing more negative than positive.

 

[georgelee5786]

I read it faster....that's weird

 

[Blitz]

I read it faster but I’ve tried it before and find that it’s a bit straining for much longer reads

 

[melchi]

Hsssss

 

[2wordsperminute]

I wish textbooks were written like this.

 

[Glitched]

Very quick read. Like <10 seconds.

 

[Nekroz]

I read it slower, as it's kinda distracting. For me at least.

 

[So_Indecisive]

I'm a pretty fast reader(very very fast) so I'm sure my brain does this automatically already.
Overall didn't make a difference for me

 

[TsumiHokiro]

I'm a neuro, first time I read like usual, not noticing a thing. Then I tried reading faster, sure, might have read faster, not sure since I'd already done a normal reading.

This method works by prediction, and requires people to make fairly accurate predictions of which words are coming next. By bolding, you just made it fairly easier for people to pay attention to that which they would normally already do. This is not so much a neurodivergent method, so much as a speed-up reading method. And it only works if: a) Your reader has the vocabulary which your text is written in; b) Is not sickened by the contrast change between repetitive bold/non-bold text.
This is a trade-off of comprehension for finishing up faster, so I'm not sure if it's about making it easier for Neuro people to feel better about themselves, unless you're saying all neuro people have problems reading, like taking shortcuts so it goes faster, the goal of reading is to read as fast as possible, or so many other possible conjectures which makes this bird's mind blow…

 

[Echimera]

Hard to tell (which should be an option in the poll), for a proper analysis you'd need at least two texts of comparable length, half of them set up like this and half without the bold letters, and time a bunch of people on how long each text takes them.
Maybe even randomize which texts are emphasized like this and which are not, just to remove potential bias based on the text lengths.

Or in the setting of this forum, at least have the multiple text samples and leave the timing to people's gut feeling.

Definitely would need some getting used to if people started formating their texts this way.