4 ms·
It's funny how the article praises large x-height and low-contrast strokes, yet it is written in Garamond, a font with small x-height and high-contrast strokes.
by oofabz 10y ago
It's funny how the article praises large x-height and low-contrast strokes, yet it is written in Garamond, a font with small x-height and high-contrast strokes.
Personally I like small x-height and high-contrast strokes, so I find the article very readable. But I think fonts with these features require higher-DPI displays. Consider Computer Modern, which is beautiful on paper but unreadable at low resolution.
I wonder if the studies mentioned in the article took this into account. Were they testing readability on low-res screens, paper, or what? Would you get different results if you changed the medium?
- jacobolus 10y agoThe article is talking typefaces for UIs, not for body copy. A telephone book, a phone screen menu, a novel, and a traffic sign all have dramatically different constraints on legibility.
- lbebber 10y agoThe article even talks about the difference between isolated words and longer sentences: https://viljamis.com/2016/typography-for-user-interfaces/#how-we-read https://viljamis.com/2016/typography-for-user-interfaces/#ho...
- rickycook 10y agotrue, but the difference between a 1080p and retina displays are quite stark. as is the difference between LCD and eInk. that might change things?
- valine 10y agoJust a technicality, but a 1080p display can be considered 'retina' if the display is small enough or typically viewed from a far distance. The display on the iPhone 6 Plus is 1080p. It qualifies as a 'Retina display' because of its high pixel density and the typical viewing distance of 1 foot.
- erelde 10y agoRetina is, at best, a standard of pixel density, in general it's just marketing.
- yoz-y 10y agoStandard on phones yes, but the PC market has not yet caught up. A 1920x1080px monitor is still the baseline.
- franciscop 10y agoBecause of battery life
- marvy 10y ago> Computer Modern, is [...] unreadable at low resolution I agree it's much worse at low resolution, but it is readable. How low do you have in mind?
- ThomPete 10y agoWell it's talking about UI text not content copy.
- Mikhail_Edoshin 10y agoComputer Modern on modern displays looks very good (even plain ones, not just retina and such). It's totally possible to use these fonts for websites, for example.