Investigating the Optimal Length of Readable Japanese Text on Smartphones.

Abstract

We conducted a large-scale experiment using articles of seven different lengths to examine how character count affects the readability of Japanese text on smartphones. Results showed a trade-off: 100-character texts caused less fatigue than those with 400+ characters but conveyed less information. Fatigue increased with length, while informativeness plateaued around 400 characters, suggesting this may be an optimal length. Since comprehension tended to decline as length increased, 100 characters may be suitable when conveying information concisely.