[Athen] Text readability: can you tell the difference between "rn" and "m"?

[John Cavano]

Hi Christine,

 

This is an interesting issue that I have to think more about. San Serif
fonts usually make online documents easier to read, while Serif fonts
usually make printed documents easier to read. But you have brought up an
issue that's similar to visual crowding.

 

I did a comparison with the default Microsoft Word font, Calibri, and the
two new fonts from Microsoft that help decrease visual crowding, Fluent
Calibri and Fluent Sitka Small, in 11 point:

                   rnm        Il1       Calibri

      rnm  Il1  Fluent Calibri

    rnm Il1 Fluent Sitka Small

 

Here's an image of the comparison, in case the fonts don't come through:



Microsoft's fonts to reduce visual crowding are downloadable here: 
 <https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50721>
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50721

 

Fluent fonts have kerning built-in, as well as space between lines. I'm not
sure if this is the solution, but it might be helpful for people who need
that extra space.

 

Thanks,

John Cavano, OTR/L, ATP

High Tech Center Training Unit

AT Specialist / Instructor

408-996-6045

jcavano at htctu.net

www.htctu.net

 

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of Christine Robinson
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 10:31 AM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Athen] Text readability: can you tell the difference between "rn"
and "m"?

 

Hi all -

 

I've been thinking a lot about readability of text, and I'd like to invite
you to brainstorm with me. This is a long detailed posting, and it won't
hurt my feelings if you delete it here. *smiles* But if you're a curious
person like me.

We're likely all familiar with the general guidelines for readable digital
text: use a sans serif font like Verdana, use good color contrast and font
size, etc.

Lately I've been puzzling over the space between letters, and how typeface
choice affects that:

rn m     Il1        Arial

rn m      Il1           Myriad Pro

rn m     Il1        Times New Roman

rn m   Il1      Verdana

(Hopefully this doesn't come across to you converted into plain text; if you
don't see the above as different fonts, you may want to play around with it
yourself.)

My vision is 20/20, but I find that in most cases, the two lowercase letters
RN, next to each other, are difficult to distinguish from the single
lowercase letter M. Depending on the typeface, it at times it's also
difficult to tell the difference between uppercase I, lowercase L, and/or
the numeral 1. Usually I can tell the difference from context, but if it's
an unfamiliar word, someone's name, or a password, it may take me a few
moments to make sure I'm reading it correctly. Same goes for the common
abbreviation for accessibility: a11y.

Fiddling around for better readability, I've tried playing with kerning,
increasing the space between letters. Again, if you get this converted to
plain text, you won't see that in the text below, I've increased the space
between letters by 1 pt:

rn m   Il1      Arial

rn m    Il1       Myriad Pro

rn m   Il1      Times New Roman

rn m Il1    Verdana

It doesn't help with the "uppercase-I, lowercase-L, or numeral 1?" question.
It usually helps with the "rn or m?" question, but as a trainer, I can just
imagine myself trying to tell people to increase their kerning in order to
improve readability. Besides, I don't recall seeing that recommended
anywhere as a best practice for digital accessibility.

So I got to thinking, what about monospaced (fixed width) typefaces? The
characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space, unlike the other
typefaces above with are variable width.

rn m  Il1   Consolas (monospaced)

rn m   Il1      DejaVu Sans (monospaced)

rn m Il1  Letter Gothic (monospaced)

rn m Il1  Lucida Console (monospaced)

To my eyes, it's usually easier to distinguish between the characters, and
I'm tempted to start recommending that people use a typeface like Consolas
or Lucida Console. However, again, I don't recall hearing any accessibility
people recommending monospaced typefaces.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Best,

Chris

 

Christine Robinson | Technical Trainer/Writer | Center for Teaching
Excellence

Georgia Gwinnett College | 1000 University Center Lane, L-2158 |
Lawrenceville, GA 30043

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