This isn't an answer to the font-size question, per se, but one of the
things your client may not realize is that font-readability changes
fairly dramatically between paper and screen. Paper relies on
reflected light and screens are a light source. This is the main
factor that contributes to such phenomena as serif typefaces being
easier to read than sans-serif on paper and harder to read on screens.
It also alters the legibility of certain colors.
kt
Katie Albers
Founder & Principal Consultant
FirstThought
User Experience Strategy & Project Management
310 356 7550
[email protected]
On Mar 11, 2009, at 7:42 AM, Chauncey Wilson wrote:
How far away will your audience be from the text. There is quite a
bit of research and a general formula that uses values of visual angle
and the distance from the eye to the object to determine the actual
physical size of text for people with normal or less than normal
vision. You can search the IxDA archives or I'll post it tonight.
Age makes a difference and you may want to design not for the average,
but for a range that includes older adults.
Chauncey
On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Marty DeAngelo <[email protected]>
wrote:
I know that there was a discussion on this list a while back, but I'd
love to get a more recent update as to what people feel is the best
'standard' font size for an average audience. We are currently in
a bit of a debate with a client about their 'standard' font size.
Their guidelines dictate using 14px Arial / 13px Verdana for content,
which we feel is too large. We feel that a 12px Arial / 11px Verdana
standard is more reasonable to most users (in essence, using the 75%
base font adjustment from the browser standards and then using ems
from that point forward).
I've done some research of different usability sites and found that
MOST agree that a standard of 75%/0.8em/12px seem to be the best
size, but it is by no means unanimous. But I trust the opinions here
to help me prove my point or theirs.
P.S. We do use font-sizers on all of our sites, and they run at
settings of 1.0/1.2/1.5em (effectively 12px, 14px, 18px), which I
think takes care of the normal gamut of needs; in my opinion, most
users who need a font size larger than that already know how to get
it and don't need us to intervene.
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