Wikipedia:Article length

This page contains an overview of the key issues concerning article size. There are three related measures of an article's size:

Usability considerations concerning the size of an article have been determined to include:

When an article is too large, a decision may be taken to divide it into smaller articles, to break part of it out into a new article, or to move part of it into another existing article. When an article is too small, it may be combined with one or more other existing articles. Such editorial decisions require consensus. Guidelines on the size of articles, and detailed solutions, are provided below. The licensing policy mandates that whenever any content is copied from one article to another new or existing article, an edit summary of the type "new content from [[page name]]" must be used.

A page of about 30 kB to 50 kB of readable prose, which roughly corresponds to 4,000 to 10,000 words, takes between 30 and 40 minutes to read at average speed, which is right on the limit of the average concentration span of 40 to 50 minutes (information about a given page's size can be viewed by visiting the page and then clicking on the "Page information" link in the left column). At 50 kB and above it may be beneficial to move some sections to other articles and replace them with summaries per – see A rule of thumb below. Comprehension of standard texts at average reading speed is around 65%.

Articles that cover particularly technical subjects should, in general, be shorter than articles on less technical subjects. While expert readers of such articles may accept complexity and length provided the article is well written, the general reader requires clarity and conciseness. There are times when a long or very long article is unavoidable, though its complexity should be minimized. Readability is a key criterion.

The following script is helpful for estimating readable prose size: User:Dr pda/prosesize.

Lists, tables, and other material that is already in summary form may not be appropriate for reducing or summarizing further by the summary style method. If there is no "natural" way to split or reduce a long list or table, it may be best to leave it intact, and a decision made to either keep it embedded in the main article or split it off into a stand-alone page. Regardless, a list or table should be kept as short as is feasible for its purpose and scope. Too much statistical data is against policy.

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