What is the best font to use?

[Hamen Cheese]

Are there studies that suggest that certain fonts would be better than others for reading? Perhaps it may be less strenuous to eyes? Or it may even engage you to read more?

 

I know for the most part, it's about preference, what we got used to growing up like TNR (but definitely stay away from scripts) but I tend to read continuously for hours on and off so I was wondering if there was anyway to help my eyes in that area? I don't want to be blind by 30.

 

Currently I read documents or stories in Calibri 12 for all my files (especially the stories I read on my phone). Is it better to use something else?

[Zeoanne]

I have extremely bad eye sight and lately I'm experiencing an increasing amount of "Eye Floaters", Flashing lights (bright flashing dots), and as of lately "black holes". I have tried different fonts and find that TNR on 14 is the easiest for me to read. Less strain to my sight and can read for much longer. I'm an avid reader so I have to go with what's easiest for me.

[Tipdin]

Actually, there are studies regarding which fonts are best for reading.

 

The font varies depending on some variables such as being on the computer or on a printed page, if it's a quick blurb or a long novel, high or low resolution screens, that sort of thing. For print on paper, the seriffed fonts are usually considered easier to read, for on screen print, sans-serif fonts.

 

But then again it depends on who you ask...

 

Here's a link to an interesting article about this subject: http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol6/usability_no17.htm

[Graeme]

I remember going on a course on presentations, and being told that Arial was best for powerpoint presentations. However, I agree with Tipdin -- sans-serif fonts like Arial for reading on the screen, and serif fonts like Times New Roman for printouts.

[Tomas]

I use font=verdana and size=3 for posting.

 

When I DL anything I copy it into Word and convert it to Verdana 12 or if I write something I usually use Verdana 12.

 

I find Verdana 12 easy on my eyes, but that is just me.

 

Not everyone's eyes are the same, so I would suppose that each person would have to make that call. What is easiest on their own eyes for reading. Personal preference, maybe?

[Hamen Cheese]

Thanks! I think I'll try out Verdana and Sans-Serif for the next few stories I download.

 

I've tried Arial before but prefer Calibri over it.

[BlueSoxSWJ]

It's probably very much a personal thing, but I did a lot of programming in college and now like fixed-width fonts (the most common being Courier). I also think TNR is a personal choice because it was the required font for all my high school papers.

[Krista]

I like Arial and Times New Roman..

[Tarin]

Helvetica is one of the best fonts to use. It was designed in such a brilliant way it is basically neutral, it's basically perfect. However, I am not sure it comes preinstalled anymore.

 

I prefer to use sans-serif fonts for body copy, but it depends on the audience. In print I go 50-50 sans to serif

[KJames]

Tarin, Verdana also lends itself to reading quite nicely, it's a sans serif font and quite clear.

[Tarin]

Tarin, Verdana also lends itself to reading quite nicely, it's a sans serif font and quite clear.

Indeed, it is, among others.

 

Tahoma is also another great font, though Tahoma was designed to be used on-screen so it's not the best in print.

 

 

 

[The Story Lover]

I prefer Times New Roman and occasionally use Geneva. I have found Garamond works well for some things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[glomph]

Lucida Grande is a very legible sans-serif font, and it is a really good choice for reading from the screen if you have it. I use it as the default in my browser. Verdana is good if you don't have Lucida Grande. I usually put the two as alternatives on my web pages.

 

Arial is a cheap rip-off of Helvetica. On screen they should look pretty much the same, though there'll be some difference in higher-resolutin printing.

 

As said above, for reading paragraphs, sans-serifs work better on screen, and serif fonts work better in print, most of the time.

 

As important as font choice and size in legibility, is line length. A line that is too long or too short will slow you down, lessen comprehension, and maybe tire you out after a while. Aim for two or three eye "fixations" per line. The font size and line length need to be chosen to go together: use longer lines for bigger font sizes, and shorter for smaller ones. As a rule of thumb, divide the font point size by 3, and that should be about the line length in inches. Alternatively, aim for around 39 characters per line of your chosen font and size. That's for paragraphs of text. Your titles and such of course don't follow that.

 

For the screen, Georgia is a really good choice for a serif font.

 

Adjust sizes for you audience. Use bigger sizes for small children and elderly adults.

 

And, eat a lot of peaches.

[Red_A]

I came across this article fonts and thought it may be of interest

[Hamen Cheese]

I came across this article fonts and thought it may be of interest

 

I like the analogy Ms. Strawson uses by comparing it to getting dressed. The article actually has some interesting points.

 

And of course, I like how he ended it haha.

 

An obsession with typefaces may even be reducing our productivity, he warns.

 

"The other day I heard that people are getting 'font paralysis'. They couldn't move forward with their work because they were unable to decide on which font to use."

[MikeL]

Appearance and ease of reading are probably the most important factors to consider when selecting a font. If you print a lot of documents, you may wish to save ink usage by using Century Gothic (seen here) . It consumes one-third less ink than Arial.

[Hylas]

Agree with Tipdin and Graeme. I prefer sans serif when reading onscreen and serif for printed text.

 

Online, you are limited to a very narrow range of web-friendly fonts, the ones I like are the following by order of preference:

 

Arial

Verdana

Tahoma

 

Printed, I prefer Cambria, Garamond, Bookman Old Style, Caslon, or Palatino Linotype to Times New Roman. For offline onscreen text I prefer other non-web friendly sans-serif like Calibri. I really dislike serif fonts onscreen though, perhaps the only one I can stand is Garamond. Surprisingly enough I also find Comic Sans easy to read though I don't quite like it visually.

 

But I have a special hatred reserved for typewriter-style serif fonts like Courier, both printed and onscreen.

[Mikie]

Helvetica is one of the best fonts to use. It was designed in such a brilliant way it is basically neutral, it's basically perfect. However, I am not sure it comes preinstalled anymore.

 

When in doubt use Helvetica or Century Gothic, though there are other good fonts (like Calibri).

NOOOOO. Don't do it!!

 

Sorry. In my one semester at U-M, I've had it programmed that Helvetica is the worst font to use ever. [it's also the Default font on Macs].

 

We had to watch this movie Helvetica and although I can't remember most of it [give me a break, I was sick my entire first semester], it basically said that Helvetica is the worst font ever in existence. And most of my teachers pretty much agreed.

 

TNR 12 or 14 is my favourite. =)

[ConcreteHeart]

NOOOOO.

[Former Member]

For editing, I go through spells, sometimes I prefer to read Arial or Courier, 12 pts. 1.5 spaced, and it really flows for me. I don't like Times New Roman, at all.

 

For writing in general and reading back my own stuff, I almost always use Georgia.