For printed books the prevailing wisdom and studies show that serif font is easier to read. On the other hand, for display devices (electronic viewing) the prevailing studies and wisdom say that non-serif font is easier for humans to decode. Look at the books on your shelf. Check how many of these books have arial or helvetica font for the body text. The number should be few or zero. Now look at your copy machine user interface or your cell phone --these devices normally do use helvetica, arial, or verdana (san-serif font). Most tech docs tend to favor the printed media wisdom (serif font for body text) and use non serif for headings because they stand out. Aside from following the the prevailing wisdom, this combination has always looked good to me. There have been numerous studies in Human Computer Interaction (long before Google or Microsoft ever existed) they reveal that: - Non serif fonts are easier read on display devices - Using more than five typefaces (where color, weight, and italics all count as a new typeface) for a particular display increases human processing time. Art is right. This topic can create a fair amount of pointless and lively "bike-shed-phenomenon-like" discussion. So, be prepared for it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_Parkinson's_Bicycle_Shed_Effect Reid
________________________________ From: framers-boun...@lists.frameusers.com on behalf of Art Campbell Sent: Mon 7/20/2009 8:22 AM To: mathieu jacquet Cc: framers@lists.frameusers.com Subject: Re: Standard font for technical documentation I think it depends on the application, how the documents are delivered, and what the company's stanard fonts (part of the corporate "look," or branding, are). The other thing you should know is that for some reason, picking fonts amounts to a religious war with odd fervor among the participants. So you're unlikely to get one good answer. If I were you, I'd start with Adobe's Type Primer http://www.adobe.com/education/pdf/type_primer.pdf For material that will be printed or delivered via PDF and likely to be printed by the customer, I usually use a serif body font and serif heads. The one I'm working in now uses Palatino and Avant Garde. If the material will only be on-screen and/or web, I'd go with serif fonts for both body and heads, and I'd pick one that was designed for on-screen display -- very few are, or were. Verdana is one of them. Arial is not.... Most type foundries today will have a few. If you want more detail, on why, Google "font readability research" Cheers, Art Art Campbell art.campb...@gmail.com "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson No disclaimers apply. DoD 358 On Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 2:57 AM, mathieu jacquet<bobi...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > Dear all, > is there any "standard font" for writing Getting Started guides, User Manuals > and other technical documents? Which one do you personnally use? Do you find > that some fonts offer a better "reading quality" than others? > Thank you very much in anticipation. > Yours sincerely, > Mathieu. > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Téléphonez gratuitement à tous vos proches avec Windows Live Messenger ! > Téléchargez-le maintenant ! > http://www.windowslive.fr/messenger/1.asp > _______________________________________________ > > > You are currently subscribed to Framers as art.campb...@gmail.com. > > Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as rg...@interactivesupercomputing.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/rgray%40interactivesupercomputing.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.
