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Wouter VERKERKEN wondered: <<Anyone ever used the readability index
feature (Flesch score etc.) and found that it seems to work on
some documents, but not on other? I mean: on some documents you get
the index, and on some documents you don't, while you have
requested it in exactly the same way. Weird.>>
It's a useless feature, and I wouldn't waste my time. Want proof?
Type a sentence. Now type the same sentence with the words rearranged
to completely obscure or even reverse the meaning. Guess what: you
get the same readability index. Now try typing random letters,
hitting the space bar occasionally. Oops! Same result. So much for
readability indices.
If you want a bit more proof, I can probably find my photocopy of an
article that appeared in Technical Communication several yearsa ago
that formally and rigorously studied readability indices. The author
found no correlation whatsoever with reading comprehension.
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