Thanks for the comments and the book reference, Mike! I will get a copy ...
Z > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Wickham [mailto:mewickham at compuserve.com] > Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 3:10 PM > To: Syed Zaeem Hosain (Syed.Hosain at aeris.net); framers at lists.frameusers.com > Subject: Re: Questions about look and feel. > > > 2. Do people think that a Sans Serif font improves legibility for body > > text? > > Using a sans serif font for body text greatly reduces reader comprehension. > Obtain a copy of Colin Wheildon's _Type and Layout: Are You Communicating or > Just Making Pretty Shapes?_ The book contains actual studies showing the > effects on readability and comprehension of serif vs. sans serif fonts, > color type, bold and italic type, justified paragraphs, etc. It's a > fantastic book: > > http://www.amazon.com/Type-Layout-Communicating-Making-Pretty/dp/1875750 223 > > Book designers really need to pay attention to these kinds of things. I'm > seeing more and more books with sans serif body type that might be good for > a Web page, but not for a book. Recently, I ordered a book that was on a > unique topic in my field. I awaited it excitedly. At first glance upon > arrival, it struck me how pretty the book was, which excited me more. Then I > tried to read it. I couldn't! My eyes just could not stay trained on the > lines for long. > > The book broke every rule. It had tiny type, sans serif body text, headings > with no capitalization, headings in every color of the rainbow, including > some that were yellow and nearly invisible on the pages. All recto pages > have color backgrounds. Do you know how hard it is to read tiny, thin, black > type on a blue page? Anyway, the book was clearly a designer's dream, but > it's a reader's nightmare. I still haven't read more than a few paragraph's > from it. > > Mike Wickham >