TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Favorite/Recommended Fonts From:Peter Martin <peterm -at- FOXBORO -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Tue, 6 Apr 1999 14:52:12 +1000
Steve:
At 16:46 2/04/99 -0800, in TECHWR-L, you wrote:
>A couple of clients have asked me if there have been any surveys/studies
>concerning the best fonts and font sizes to use in user manuals, for
>body text and for headings. I'm not aware of any myself. Has anyone
>heard of such a survey or research?
>
You'll find a few people have "sort of heard" about surveys
which say readers "prefer" or "like" sans serif body type styles...
I see you've got a few responses this way already...
I've yet to find someone actually citing repeatable
research which suggests that sans serif typeface in large
grabs of body text gives superior comprehension, compared
with serif fonts. I keep seeing reports saying people
saying they vaguely recall once reading that sans serif
fonts were O.K... and readers of some kind or another "liked" them.
On the other hand, "Type and Layout" by Colin Wheildon, (Strathmoor
Press, Inc March 1995), reprinted several times, cites research showing
that sans serif body typeface yields up 3-5 times the level of
comprehension in group testing compared with sans serif body typeface.
I'll stick with comprehension over 'feel good' opinions every time.
And controlled group research and reliable statistics beat "we have
a general consensus"- type "research" in my books, too.
If you're inclined this way at all, Wheildon also points out that
his readership tests showed that:
a.) Line length is important (best at about 40-60 chars per line)
-- which tends to suggest about 11 pt as a reasonable font size...
provided you have goodly margins.
b.) ALL CAPS TEXT IS HARDEST TO READ OR TO READ ACCURATELY AND
WITH UNDERSTANDING.
c.) Gutenberg was right, and the Gutenberg Diagram remains valid.
d.) The Greeks' golden proportion still works.
www.amazon.com found me a copy.
--
Peter Martin, Contract Tech. Writer peterm -at- foxboro -dot- com -dot- au
+61 2 9818 5094 (home) 0408 249 113 (mobile) peterm -at- zeta -dot- org -dot- au
