"Everyone has different reading abilities. Some people searching the web are university professors and others are 5 year old children. Twurdy has been created to provide people with access to search results that suit their own readability level.
Twurdy uses text analysis software to "read" each page before it is displayed in the results. Then Twurdy gives each page a readability level. Twurdy then shows the readability level of the page along with a color coded system to help users determine how easy the page will to understand.
Twurdy's goal is to provide web searchers with information that is most appropriate for them. This will mean that 10 year olds doing school assignments don't have to click through difficult material to find something they can use. It will also mean that phd students do not have to click through websites designed for kids in order to find what they are looking for."
OK, that's their blurb. To be fair, it's pretty accurate as well - a search leads to a summary of results, with a background colour of light orange through to very light orange - the darker the shade, the more difficult the page is to read, or rather - the more the page will appeal to an older or more experienced reading group. I found it very difficult to match the particular shade to the reading key, because the differences are very subtle. I'd have preferred more distinct colours, or to have a page of results ranked from easy to read to harder to read. I tended to use the 'Readability level' instead, which I found much more useful. It also doesn't help that the reading key scrolls off the screen as well, which I think is a basic design error.
To give you an indication of 'readability levels' the BBC Homepage has a readability level of 539. The News Front Page however has a level of 633, and the CBeebies stories and rhymes is 512. Slightly odd, and while I couldn't see any information on exactly how they arrive at these figures I did find this in the FAQ - "The structure and nature of some pages will mean that Twurdy's readability level calculation is less useful than in many other pages."
Nice idea, and useful for teachers, school librarians and parents perhaps, but I'd be happier once it's got some more fine tuning under its belt.
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