Keep Lines of Body Text to 50-75 Characters
Body text is most readable when each line holds 50 to 75 characters. Lines longer than that are perceived as intimidating, and readers are more likely to skip them (Baymard Institute, 2022).
What the research observed
Baymard Institute’s research on line length found that the width of a text column affects whether people read it at all. With a short line, the eye reaches the end and finds the start of the next line without effort. A very long line makes each return trip harder, and the whole block looks like more work than it is. Visitors are more likely to move on.
The problem shows up most on wide desktop screens. A layout that looks fine on a laptop can stretch a paragraph across a large monitor, so each line runs well past 75 characters. The words have not changed, but the page now reads as a wall of text.
What it means for a business website
Service descriptions, about pages, policies, and blog posts are where long lines cause the most trouble, because those are the pages meant to be read. Many full-width templates and page builders let text run the full width of the browser by default.
If heat maps show long blocks of text that stay uniformly cold on wide desktop layouts, line length is a likely cause. The fix is usually a single style change, not a rewrite.
What to do
- Set a maximum width on body text containers so lines stay between 50 and 75 characters at your normal font size. Sizing the container in CSS
chunits ties its width to characters. - Check key pages on a large desktop monitor, not just a laptop.
- Let images and background colors run full width if you like, but keep the text column narrow.
- Break long sections into shorter paragraphs under clear subheadings.
Sources
- Readability: The Optimal Line Length. Baymard Institute, 2022.