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I do not think the Europeans prefer sans serif a whole lot more than readers
in the U.S., except for the Swiss, of course.
I grew up in the U.K., which, for some, might not count as Europe <g>, but
I'd bet serif works just as well there. Besides, if memory serves, most of
what I read as a youngun was printed in a serif font---except, perhaps, for
that TA-language stuff, of which I have vague memories and only one printed
example. I have written several things for Italian companies and noticed
that there is no preference for sans serif and, apparently, little concern
about why there should be a preference.
Ciao.
Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Chuck Martin [mailto:cwmartin -at- US -dot- ORACLE -dot- COM]
>>>Sent: Monday, April 05, 1999 2:03 PM
>>>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>>>Subject: Re: Favorite/Recommended Fonts
>>>
>>>
>>>ddavis wrote:
>>><snip>
>>>>
>>>> The seriff vs. sans-seriff results are mixed, but they
>>>stand about 70-30 in
>>>> favor of seriff fonts in the U.S. and the opposite in Europe.
>>><snip>
>>>
>>>I learned that the reasoning behind this difference was
>>>because of what
>>>was used to teach children to read. Apparently, in the U.S.,
>>>most books
>>>are printed in serif fonts, while in Europe, most books are
>>>printed in
>>>Sans serif fonts. As a result, the "readability" comes down
>>>to no more
>>>than what a person is most used to as they learned to read.
>>>
>>>--
>>>"Online help should ignore first-time users and concentrate
>>>on those people who are already successful using the
>>>product, but who want to expand their horizons."
>>> - Alan Cooper
>>> "About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design"
>>>
>>>Chuck Martin
>>>Principal Technical Writer, Oracle Developer
>>>Tools Division, Oracle Corporation
>>>
>>>cwmartin"at"us.oracle.com
>>>
>>>=============================================================
>>>==============
>>>Send commands to listserv -at- listserv -dot- okstate -dot- edu (e.g.,
>>>SIGNOFF TECHWR-L)
>>>
>>>
>>>
