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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>A paper called '</span> </a><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Good Fonts for Dyslexia' mentions monospaced fonts as helping those with dyslexia. http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/sites/default/files/good_fonts_for_dyslexia_study.pdf<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>(October 2013<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>DOI10.1145/2513383.2513447<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Conference: Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Luz RelloLuz RelloRicardo Baeza-YatesRicardo Baeza-Yates)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>AFB says <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>"Tracking (Space Between Letters)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Text with letters very close together makes reading difficult for many people who are visually impaired, particularly for those who have central visual field defects, such as older persons with macular degeneration. Spacing between letters should be wide—for example, a mono-spaced font such as Courier, which allocates an equal amount of space for each letter, is very readable."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Here is another page suggesting fixed width helps those with visual acuity difficulties </span><a href="http://sightlosssolutions.org/FontsReport1.html"><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>http://sightlosssolutions.org/FontsReport1.html</span></a><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Sample of fonts that may help those with reading difficulties </span><a href="https://www.dyslexic.com/fonts/"><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>https://www.dyslexic.com/fonts/</span></a><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Best wishes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>E.A. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>Mrs E.A. Draffan</span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>WAIS, ECS , University of Southampton</span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>Mobile +44 (0)7976 289103</span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.outlook.soton.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=69b1RzNTDwem3wbm4pLRmuYfTLt16YjcghtEpZBsF5Sebx78I2DUCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2faccess.ecs.soton.ac.uk%2f" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk</span></a><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:black'>UK AAATE rep </span><a href="https://www.outlook.soton.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=WUwOCw_4FszLSzcUbkoFdDkad8-Q_GrRfPYUJ_ol5l2ebx78I2DUCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.aaate.net%2f" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.aaate.net/</span></a><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US> athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces@mailman13.u.washington.edu] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Christine Robinson<br><b>Sent:</b> 24 January 2018 18:31<br><b>To:</b> athen-list@u.washington.edu<br><b>Subject:</b> [Athen] Text readability: can you tell the difference between "rn" and "m"?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>Hi all –<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>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…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>Lately I’ve been puzzling over the space between letters, and how typeface choice affects that:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>rn m Il1 Arial</span></span><span class=NewAdded><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Myriad Pro";color:black'>rn m Il1 Myriad Pro<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>rn m Il1 Times New Roman<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black'>rn m Il1 Verdana<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>(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.)</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>My vision is 20/20, but I find that in most cases, the two lowercase letters <span style='letter-spacing:1.0pt'>RN,</span> 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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>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:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:1.0pt'>rn m Il1 Arial</span></span><span class=NewAdded><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:1.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Myriad Pro";color:black;letter-spacing:1.0pt'>rn m Il1 Myriad Pro<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black;letter-spacing:1.0pt'>rn m Il1 Times New Roman<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span class=NewAdded><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;letter-spacing:1.0pt'>rn m Il1 Verdana<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>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.</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:Consolas;color:black'>rn m Il1 Consolas (monospaced)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"DejaVu Sans";color:black'>rn m Il1 DejaVu Sans (monospaced)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Letter Gothic Std";color:black'>rn m Il1 Letter Gothic (monospaced)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Lucida Console";color:black'>rn m Il1 Lucida Console (monospaced)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>Anybody have any thoughts on this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>Chris<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#007048'>Christine Robinson</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#007048'> </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'>| Technical Trainer/Writer | Center for Teaching Excellence<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:#007048'>Georgia Gwinnett College</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black'> | 1000 University Center Lane, L-2158 | Lawrenceville, GA 30043<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>