Assessing the readability of a Techcrunch.com article.

This month, we calculate the Fog Index of an October 28, 2012, Techcrunch.com article ("The Paper I Buy" by John Biggs). This month, we selected a sample not only because it was of appropriate length for Fog analysis, but also because it pertains to the digital vs. print debate that rages anew with the news of Newsweek's print closure.

"I don't read paper magazines anymore. I bring the New Yorker, in paper form, with me if I'm traveling somewhere. They won't let me cancel my paper subscription and just buy a digital one. But I don't mind it. There's a window of time between take-off and hitting altitude that I need something on paper to read. Thumbing through the latest New Yorker calms me down a bit. Sometimes I'll buy a GQ or Esquire, but they're too bulky to carry very far. They usually end up in the plane seat pocket. I feel like I'm passing them on to other passengers."

Word count: 102 words --Average sentence length: 11 words (6, 14, 14, 5, 18, 11, 15, 9, 10) --Words with 3+ syllables: 7 percent (7/102 words) --Fog Index: (11+7)*.4 = 7 (no rounding)

This sample may just have the lowest pre-edited Fog score in recent Editors Only history. We'd have to check our archives. The average sentence length is very low, as is the number of words with three or more syllables. Editors, do you think there's room for improvement here? Do you think that the Fog index score is too low? If so, how might you edit this sample? Would you merge some of the shorter sentences to improve flow? Here are our minor changes:

"I don't read paper magazines anymore. I bring the New Yorker, in paper form, with me if I'm traveling somewhere. They won't let me cancel my paper subscription and just buy a digital one, but I don't mind. There's a window of time between take-off and hitting altitude when I need something on paper to read. Thumbing through the latest New Yorker calms me down a bit. Sometimes I'll buy a GQ or Esquire, but they're too bulky to carry very far. They usually end up in the plane seat pocket, so I feel like I'm passing them on to other passengers."

Word count: 102 words --Average sentence length: 15 words (6, 14, 18, 18, 11, 15, 20) --Words with 3+ syllables: 7 percent (7/102 words) --Fog Index: (15+7)*.4 = 8 (no rounding)

We only made a few minor tweaks and merged a few shorter sentences. We increased the average sentence length from 11 to 15 words. This helped us to bring the Fog score up to 8 (no rounding). This marks the first time we've tried to increase the Fog index.

We've included a link to the source article for your reference. The author discusses the items he still buys in print (including the New York Times and comic books) and his predictions for paper. We'd love to hear your thoughts on either the Fog analysis or Biggs's Techcrunch.com piece.

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