Jared wrote: > But isn't a serif font more readable at 10px/12px for blocks of text?
Andrei wrote: > Only if the output medium has the resolution to handle the detail... This isn't entirely true. I would vote with confidence that serif typefaces (select few) read more efficiently than sans serif in the context of body text or paragraphs, no matter what medium (digital display or print). The addition of thinner columns opposed to wider is an additional factor as well but disregard that for now. The mix-up between serif and sans serif typefaces (for body text) in today's digital world is a battle between conscious visual aesthetics and subconscious reading comprehension. Sans serif tends to look cleaner and slicker than serif typefaces when the type display is degraded. However, this doesn't necessarily mean serif typefaces are less effective. My analysis on this subject (working with 8th grade reading levels in Military software products) leads me to believe that when these two typeface (types) are tested against each other in the context of body text or paragraphs... users are often confused with what is visually pleasing to them, overall, rather than what reads most efficiently (i.e. visual appearance is weighed evenly with readability). So because both are readable due to users capturing shapes of words rather than each individual character, they tend to lean toward sans serif being "better" because it's overall appearance seems to have more integrity (or is just preferred for whatever reason), even though they struggle slightly more with comprehension (subconsciously). This is also a reason not to blindly depend on user's preferences to make design decisions, but that's another thread. Easiest test, make two identical paragraphs (alias or anti-alias), one with a serif font and san serif font... then read them to yourself. I think you'll find serif more effortless to read and comprehend. -- Dane Storrusten Microsoft Surface User Experience Design 818.308.6557 We are hiring! ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
