Only the end page counts
It's not true to say that people don't read online. They do. They want information, lots of it. But they only actually read when they've reached the page they're looking for. The pages that get them there, like homepages, overview pages and search results pages, are merely glanced at. The text on these pages is scanned, never read.

It's all Google's fault
The internet has aways been a very flighty medium. The success of Google has increased that flightiness even more. For most internet users, Google is their first stop when they're looking for something online. Most people use Google like this: enter a keyword and then clik on the first link on the first results page. If that page doesn't give them what they want in 15 seconds, they move on to the second link. And so on. Nowadays, this surfing behaviour is no longer limited to Google. Most people surf the entire net like this. They arrive at a site, click a link left or right and if they don't immediately find what they're looking for, they're gone.

Adapted design home and overview pages
Have things really changed that much? A couple of years ago homepages and overview pages also had a kind of orienteering function. True, but back then most people actually read the content on these pages. The so-called portal-look, where a homepage consists of several little content blocks, was very popular at the time.

But pages like that, with lots of little bits of information, don't work any more these days. Users want simple choices. Very simple. Examples are the new homepage of The Post, the product choice on the site of Daikin or Ford's online showroom. All pages that don't require reading but that offer easy choices that take the user where he wants to go fast.