== Readability indices ==

Readability and understandability tend to go hand in hand. The more
pedantic, obfuscant, crepuscular and fuliginous the language the less
likely you are to be understood.(Grundner TM 1980, Nott T 1992)

Computer grammar checkers use one of the following methods to give a
measure of readability.

== Flesch readability formula ==

- Need three 100 word samples
- 206.85 - (Average number of words in a sentence X 1.015 + Number
of syllables per 100 words X 0.846)

This results in a score of reading ease between 0 and 100. The higher the
figure the easier the material is to read.

== Gunning’s Fog index ==

Add the average sentence length to the polysyllable count and multiply x
0.4.
A score from 8-12 is considered reasonable; after that the higher the score
the foggier the meaning.
These indices both require a chunk of text of at least 100 words in length.
Most photographic consent forms tend to come in under the 100 word
mark.

== Analysing text ==

The simplest way to assess a piece of text is to use the following methods:
1. Cross out words and see if the text loses its meaning without them.
2. Try to substitute monosyllabic and bisyllabic words for polysyllabic
words (smaller words for large ones).
3. Cut out anything that sounds legalistic.
4. Avoid the danger of virgules ie and/or, his/her as they tend to confuse
the reader.

== Resources ==

'''Weblinks'''

[http://www.juicystudio.com/fog/ Information about readability tests and automatic tests of web pages that are online or on your hard drive]

[http://www.gopdg.com/plainlanguage/readability.html Everything you ever wanted know about readability tests but were afraid to ask]

[http://uuhsc.utah.edu/pated/authors/readability.html SMOG Readability Formula]

[http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/market/training/power/readabil.html Forcast Readability Formula for Technical Writing]

[http://developer.gnome.org/documents/usability/usability-readability.html Usability and Readability Considerations For Technical Documentation]

[http://csep.psyc.memphis.edu/cohmetrix/readabilityresearch.htm Readability formulas including Flesch]

[http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch_Reading_Ease Flesch Reading Ease from the Simple English Wikipedia]

[http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/octnews/oc030602.html Who's reading your writing]