When you read articles online, how long are they?

1. 86

   Express10posted 10 years ago

   When you read articles online, how long are they?
   
   Do the lengths tend to correspond to long, short, or medium length hubs and which length do you prefer to read so long as it's useful or entertaining?

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2. 40

   ChristinSposted 10 years ago

   I think all have their place depending on the subject at hand. I think shorter hubs can be aided by the use of several pictures or tables things of that nature.  Longer hubs are called for in some instances, but they are more appealing to the reader also when they are broken up into shorter paragraphs, lists, etc.
   
   As long as the material is relevant and interesting as well as broken up in ways that it doesn't hurt the eyes,  I can enjoy hubs of all sorts of lengths.  What I really can't do is any hub that is one long endless paragraph.

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      Express10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      One long endless paragraphs get bypassed quickly from me as well

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3. 67

   WalterPoonposted 10 years ago

   Our attention span is very short, often said to be less than 10 seconds. Generally, articles that are about 400 words are easy to read. But then again, it depends on what I am looking for; whether reading for pleasure or for research. If I am doing some research to write a hub, longer articles tend to be better in that the treatment of the topic is more in-depth and thorough.
   
   I have a habit of reading word by word. Lately, because of time constraints, I tend to scan and when I do, it no longer bothers me whether the hub is long or short. I read the first sentence of each paragraph word by word and then scan the rest. If the paragraph contains something very, very important, I will read every word. I also read every word, if I'm reading for pleasure, for example a humorous or an interesting article.

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      Express10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Good point about scanning and it's relevance to length when researching v/s entertainment.

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4. 61

   duffsmomposted 10 years ago

   I prefer to get my information in concise and shorter hubs. I feel overwhelmed when I "tune" into a hub that is long - and quite often the writer does not properly break the article into paragraphs and the reader is faced with long columns of text that are not very appealing to read.
   
   I also like the informational articles I read to get to the point, give me the information promoted in the title, I don't want to read about how their aunt Dora or their latest puppy did it. Give me the facts and let me go.
   
   Which. as I am sure you know, is in direct contrast to what Hubpages seems to want from writers.

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      Express10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I've written hubs that are over 1500 - 2100 words long as well as several recently that are barely 800 words long. I'm finding that length isn't the most important factor as I once thought it to be. As for HP, this is why I asked this question

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      WalterPoonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Express10, HubPages require hubs to be at least 1,150 words long to qualify as "stellar hubs", but this is not a requirement for "featured hubs".
      
      http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/Elem … tellar-Hub

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   3. 86

      Express10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I noticed the stellar hub requirements and certain subjects may not be well suited to long lengths while many other subjects are. It all boils down to what the person seeking the info or entertainment wants. Personally, I am writing for them.

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      Abby Campbellposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm with you there, Sue. I like concise facts as well. I can't stand fluff.

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5. 60

   Pennypinesposted 10 years ago

   it depends entirely upon the writer.  Some are absorbing and I enjoy reading the article no matter the length.  Some are too wordy and I cut off half way through. 
   My hope is that I can capture the reader like great writers do because that is the real essence of good writing

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   ytsenohposted 10 years ago

   The length of an article read depends on the subject and quality of material for me.

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   icvposted 10 years ago

   i read articles when ever i wanted to know about a particular thing. when i got the idea i will stop.

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8. 74

   Abby Campbellposted 10 years ago

   I like as much information I can get in as short of an article as possible. Most articles that do this are probably within 1,000 to 1,500 words.

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   Tonipetposted 10 years ago

   When I am interested in an article, I read everything. I like articles with images, because regardless of how long and detail a hub is, the beautiful variation from objectives to visualization makes it more interesting to continue reading. Thank you.

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   1. 86

      Express10posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks so much for answering. So far, the takeaway for this question is that it really depends on the reader and while I will adhere to HP rules, I will attempt to make more of an effort to make things easy for the reader.

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