Congruent versus Incongruent Display: The Effect of Page Layout on Critical Reading in Print and Digital Formats

With the proliferation of online information and the increasing amount of
online books and articles, we face two major trends of reading: (1)
converting books, newspapers and journals "as is" from print to onlinedigital display, and (2) printing online texts by the users and reading them
from paper. In both cases, the text is being read in an incongruent situation
(i.e. it is not read in the original display it was designed for). This study
investigated the effect of converting text from print to digital and vice
versa, on the ability of consumers to read it critically. A group of 80 11th
graders were asked to read news items in congruent and in incongruent
reading situations. Results show a negative effect of converting text from
one display to another without adjustment. The effect was strongest in
converting texts from print to digital display. The findings illustrate the
critical importance of format-specific text-design in converting text from
print to digital and vice versa, and suggest that universities, information
repositories and other text providers should consider format adjustments in
making their texts accessible for readers.