I stumbled across this, the Juicy Studio Readability Test, while surfing around this morning. Plug in an URL and it gives you results, though the page is a little confusing, I think– you have to scan down the page quite a bit. Interestingly enough, my official blog scores a 10.7 on the Gunning Fog Index (which means, according to the explanation on the site, that I’m somewhere between Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal), while my unofficial blog scores a 7.03 (somewhere between TV Guide and Reader’s Digest).
Yeah, yeah, I know, readability tests are problematic, of course. But I still think that they’re kind of interesting, and I think it might be interesting to use some things like readability tests and grammar checkers as part of the revision process– not grading mind you, but as an aid in reading. I know this is the case in my own writing. I have the grammar checker off in my copy of MS Word, but every once in a while, I do run it when I’m revising or proofreading something. I find it frequently helps me slow down my in my own re-reading, and every once in a while, it gives me some good advice.
And besides, this site is just kinda fun.