Re: Fonts and Point Sizes

[Daniel Hale <dhale -at- POBOX -dot- COM>]

>We are redesigning our template and have tentatively picked Garamond 11 point
> for the body text. Some of our writers have concerns about the
>readability of
> both the font and point size. We ship our doc as hard copy and PDF files, so
> resolution online is a consideration.

> Suggestions? Altneratives?

You'll probably find that Garamond 11 is too fine for onscreen use, with
its small size and delicate body. Especially with Acro3 - when, if -
which antialiases text. Garamond will just grey out to nothing. Minion
survives onscreen, and I'll bet that Stone and Lucida prosper. Anyway I
would use PDF as a *distribution* method, in this case, and not a real
browsing experience. Unless, of course, you wanted to redesign it for the
screen (horizontal orientation, roughly 4:3, with an effective 14-16
point type size) - but that would get tiresome quick, and would double
your page length.

I would hesitate to use larger than 11 point type in printed material for
adults. Line length and leading are more important contributors to
readability. Garamond, in both its genuine and Jannon (i.e. Monotype
Garamond 156) versions, is immensely readable - with the exception of ITC
Garamond, which I think is evil.

I'm unsure about Adobe Garamond for a technical document. Global
Village's documentation is set in AGaramond, and it looks subtly
wrong.... Maybe something more "rational", like Adobe's Utopia family. I
dunno.

Regards,

Dan


Daniel Hale
dhale -at- pobox -dot- com