[agargarg]

> In fact, if you've read the first post http://justinjackson.ca/words.html, I'd argue that this almost impossible to read through to the end without skipping.

That's interesting: I saw the plaintext version first, which I had no problem reading. But in the HTML version, the fact that all bold sentences are pretty mundane and the excessive use of italic and bold just made me want to skip the whole page. In fact I didn't even notice it was the same content until I went back to your post!

[alan_cx]

My instant thought is that the bold headings draw the eye away from the bit you are currently reading.

"You" read the first heading, and decide to read the plain text below. As you are reading that, your eyes notice another heading below what you are reading, and if the paragraph you are currently reading is not holding your attention enough, the next heading gets your attention. Your eyes then leave the paragraph you are currently reading because the heading below it now has your attention. So, you start on the next paragraph and the whole thing loops as you go down the page.

So, I would suggest that one should use headings and attention grabbers as little as possible, make the paragraphs worth reading, and try to get the message of the paragraph across in the first sentence or two.

Does that work?

[nverba]

The plain text file has been fixed up since I made my comment. I agree, the plain text file is now quite easy to read, making my snarky comment look quite silly... :)