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Subject:Re: Serif vs. sans serif? (Take Too Many) From:"Sharon Burton-Hardin" <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Jun 2001 15:07:37 -0700
I never said anything about the quality of the research or anything about it
being an art or a science. The truth is, fonts usage and readability are
both and art and a science. Karen, as I recall, also just presents the
research in a very comprehensive way that lets you know why some things will
work and others won't.
After you know what the research is and why there are certain rules, you can
choose to ignore or use them to your creative (and users) advantage.
For example, I love the font Top Hat. I think it is elegant and lovely.
Unfortunately, it is not readable in quantity. That makes it a bad choice
for a user manual. The metrics of the font are wrong for passages of text. I
can explain that to someone - like a client - and they can get it. That is
one of the values of research.
But the research is part of the scientific method, which means the questions
get refined and reasked as we learn more. As we learn more, we ask the
questions better. We get a better feel for the dependent and independent
variables and know how to better measure them, which lets us ask the
questions better. And so it goes.
But then - I was trained as a scientist!
sharon
Sharon Burton-Hardin
Anthrobytes Consulting
909-369-8590
www.anthrobytes.com
Vice-president, Programs of the Inland Empire chapter of the STC
www.iestc.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, 21 June, 2001 2:32 PM
Subject: Re: Serif vs. sans serif? (Take Too Many)
| I demur from Sharon's recommendation. I think Shriver overstates the case
for her conclusions about fonts, although in general I like the book, find
it well designed, and think she says sensible things about font choice and
usage.
|
| I just don't think any of the "research" has been done particularly well,
and therefore I don't think we can draw any conclusions from it. It is, as
far as I can tell, pseudoscience, not real science. I say this because the
number of variables involved in
| setting a passage of text is enormous. You cannot change a single
variable (serif vs sans, for example), without changing half a dozen others,
all of which affect readability. Understanding the interplay of these
subtleties is what makes a typographer su
| ccessful.
|
| This is not a reducible problem. There is no formula, no algorithm, no
acid test. Experience-based intuition, soft evidence, culture, tradition,
and craft all come into play.
|
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