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Try to remember the last article you read online. What was it about? Did you find what you were looking for? Did you read it from start to finish?

If you are like most of today’s online readers, you probably just scanned the text in search of topics that interest you. I guess you read the headlines and tried to catch what seemed to you to be the most important.

This is confirmed by numerous studies, including an NNGroup study from 2008, which shows that users only familiarize themselves with 20-28% of the content on a page. A similar study was conducted by analysts from Chartbeat in 2013, confirming that most users only scroll through articles and do not engage with their content.

And what about books? I mainly mean professional or scientific books. You usually read such books in full. And when you want to quickly find a topic, you use the TABLE OF CONTENTS – thanks to it, you do not have to flip through the entire textbook. You go straight to the chapter that describes the topic you are interested in.

So why do most online articles not have such a table of contents? You might respond that they are too short and don’t need one. I agree with you 100%. However, most of the texts I come across are really extensive, and a table of contents would greatly facilitate navigating through them.

Additionally, long texts rank faster (achieve higher positions in search results like Google). Furthermore, Tim Brown (the owner of IDEO, where design thinking originated) claims that the longer the text, the better. Based on an analysis conducted, he believes that 1000 words is just the minimum, and the goal is 2500 words. The popular blog buffer stated that an entry should be read in 7 minutes. Which gives us about 1600 words.

The text you are now reading has 1117 words.

Try to recall the last article you read on the internet. What was it about? Did you find what you were looking for? Did you read it from start to finish?

If you are like most of today’s internet readers, you probably just scanned the text looking for topics that interest you. I guess you read the headlines and tried to catch what seemed most important to you.

This is confirmed by numerous studies, including the NNGroup study from 2008, which shows that users only familiarize themselves with 20-28% of the content on a page. A similar study was conducted by analysts from Chartbeat in 2013, confirming that most users merely scroll through articles, rather than engaging with their content.

And what about books? Here, I mainly mean industry or scientific books. You usually read such books in their entirety. And when you want to quickly find a topic, you use the TABLE OF CONTENTS – thanks to it, you don’t have to flip through the entire manual. You go straight to the chapter that describes the topic you are interested in.

So why do most online articles lack such a table of contents? You might respond that they are too short and don’t need one. I completely agree with you. However, most texts that I come across are really extensive, and a table of contents would greatly facilitate navigating through them.

Additionally, long texts rank faster (achieve higher positions in search results like Google). Furthermore, Tim Brown (the owner of the IDEO agency, where design thinking was born) claims that the longer the text, the better it is. Based on the analysis he conducted, he believes that 1000 words is just the minimum, and the goal is 2500 words. The popular blog buffer stated that a post should be read in 7 minutes. This gives us about 1600 words.

The text you are currently reading has 1117 words.

Try to remember the last article you read on the internet. What was it about? Did you find what you were looking for? Did you read it from beginning to end?

If you are like most of today’s internet readers, you probably just scanned the text for topics of interest. I guess you read the headlines and tried to catch what seemed to be most important to you.

This is confirmed by numerous studies, including a study by NNGroup from 2008, which shows that users only engage with 20-28% of the content on the page. A similar study was conducted by analysts at Chartbeat in 2013, confirming that most users just scroll through articles without engaging with the content. 

And what about books? I mainly mean professional or scientific books here. You usually read such books in their entirety. And when you want to quickly find a topic, you use the TABLE OF CONTENTS – thanks to it, you don’t have to flip through the entire textbook. You go straight to the chapter where the topic you are interested in is described.

So why do most online articles not have such a table of contents? You’ll probably answer that they are too short and do not need one. I agree with you 100%. However, most of the texts I encounter are really extensive and a table of contents would significantly improve navigation through them.

Moreover, long texts rank faster in search engines (achieving higher positions in search results such as Google). Further, Tim Brown (owner of the IDEO agency, where design thinking was born) claims that the longer the text, the better. Based on the analysis conducted, he believes that 1000 words is merely the minimum, and the goal is 2500 words. The popular blog buffer states that a post should be read in 7 minutes. This gives us around 1600 words.

The text you are reading now has 1117 words.

Try to remember the last article you read online. What was it about? Did you find what you were looking for? Did you read it from start to finish?

If you are like most of today’s internet readers, you probably just scanned the text in search of the topics that interested you. I guess you read the headings and tried to catch what seemed most important to you.

Numerous studies confirm this, including a study by NNGroup from 2008, which shows that users only familiarize themselves with 20-28% of the content on a page. A similar study was conducted by analysts from Chartbeat in 2013, confirming that most users just scroll through articles and do not engage with their content.

What about books? I mainly mean industry or academic books. You usually read such books in full. And when you want to quickly find a topic, you use the TABLE OF CONTENTS – thanks to it, you don’t have to flip through the whole manual. You go straight to the chapter that describes the topic you are interested in.

So why do most online articles not have such a table of contents? You might answer that they are too short and don’t need one. I agree with you 100%. However, most texts that I encounter are really extensive and a table of contents would significantly improve navigation through them.

Additionally, long texts rank better (achieve higher positions in search results such as Google). Furthermore, Tim Brown (the owner of IDEO, where design thinking was born) claims that the longer the text, the better. Based on conducted analysis, he believes that 1000 words is just the minimum, and the goal is 2500 words. A popular blog buffer stated that a post should be read in 7 minutes. This gives us about 1600 words.

The text you are now reading has 1117 words.