User Experience Design: the readability of text

Map Description: This essay is concise, it involves some core content and problems in the typography of Western languages, which is very beneficial to beginners. The conclusions are highly refined, but they should never be mantras, and there should still be ample room for discussion. After the map hope to help understand. Match map: Rex Chen

Uppercase I, lowercase L and number 1: too simple a font does not mean easy to identify.

Because see watercress and here have about legibility and readability discussion, found that there is an old article is also about the reading of the text, very early written, may have a lot of deficiencies, sent up to discuss.

A good font must have very obvious features, the form of a single letter must be irreplaceable, and there is a clear distinction between the letters, which does not require the simplest form, but must be very clear, and the form of letters is well recognized. Because sometimes the form of the font is too simple, but it will make the difference between the font is not very large, in the reading time is not easy to distinguish and identify.

Word spacing over small will affect reading.

There must be a reasonable space between each letter (Kerning), if the distance between the letters is too narrow, like two of very close to the egg at any time the risk of collision, if the letter spacing is too large, the letter will lose tension and tension, making text reading become boring. So the distance between the letters should be appropriate, so that in very tight sentences and poor printing circumstances, and other letters will not be confused with the impact of reading. For general text design, the smaller the font size, the greater the spacing between letters to make the text easier to identify. Conversely, if you resize the font size, tighten some of the spacing so that the characters are not so loose, and easier to read.

The default word spacing is not ideal and needs to be adjusted repeatedly.

A good font, whether it is a line font or no line, in the letter arranged in the text will form a unified gray, that is, the letter strokes and the space between the strokes to form a certain degree of gray. Is that we often say that the black and white distribution is right, all the letters, the important thing is not the design of the black part, but the design of the white part: the letter and the middle of the space. This is very important. For example, the distance between I and lowercase l or I in the font should be greater, because two vertical bars form the smallest space, and the shortest distance between I and C should be smaller so that the space between I and L and the area between I and C are roughly in line. The distance between V, W, Y and other letters should be minimized, as the oblique strokes of these letters form a larger space, which is likely to be a negative value when combined with Y and a. Adjust the word spacing in order to distribute symmetry, visually harmonious, to achieve a sense of visual rhythm and balance. Western font Designers ' discretion over kerning may account for about 1/3 of the overall font design content. This requirement is not allowed to have individual letters because of the size of strokes and space differences too large and particularly abrupt, resulting in visual uncoordinated and conflict, thus affecting the fluency of reading.

Which is more suitable for long time reading, the text lining and the non liner?

The liner body is more readable than the sans-serif in multiple text articles, and the space formed by two similar strokes with vertical lines in sans serif fonts can easily cause visual downward movement. Most of the Owen alphabet strokes are perpendicular to the baseline, the line will form horizontal strokes on the baseline, these lines can make these letters in the line strokes on the baseline will form a certain level of visual guidance, can guide the visual direction of moving horizontally, so that the speed of reading text, the Research institute test shows that In general, under the same printing conditions, the liner body reading speed is about one-fifth faster than the free liner body, and because to consider the position of the line strokes, generally speaking, the distance between the lines of the font letter is larger than the sans serif font, so that the recognition coefficient increased, which is why in a large number of words in the News newspaper, The magazine basically uses serif fonts.

Cover the lower part, which is more recognizable?

The lining of the upper end of the line makes the character of the typeface more prominent, even though sometimes the part or the lower part of the font is blocked and can still be identified. You can also avoid some combinations of fonts because the font size is too small, or the font is compressed to cause confusion, for example, we can often see the confusion between Ri and N,rn and M, and the increase in line strokes can effectively avoid this danger. Many font designs now blend the advantages of the two fonts to design, such as the new standard font for German railways.

Of course, the readability also depends on other important factors, for example, the number of points in the font, the distance between words, the form of sentences, the length of sentences, the distance between sentences, the relationship between paragraphs, but also related to the quality of printing, font color, paper quality and color, and many other factors.

Reference

• Lesetypographie, Hans Peter Willberg, Friedrich Forssmann, 1997, Verlag Hermann Schmidt.
• Spiekermann Ueberschrift, Erik Epiekermann, Verlag Hermann Schmidt.

http://www.typeisbeautiful.com/2010/05/2510