8 ms·

OpenStreetMap for the dyslexic

146 points by thinkingemote 8y ago

Insanity 8y ago
Interesting choice of font. Does the font help with reading it to the dyslexic? For me it makes it actually harder. (I get that all-caps might help, but that font?) EDIT: Apart from that, it's a cool idea though
- Angostura 8y ago
  I work at a facility where there are many dyslexic people and I've done quite a bit of research, but have failed to find any really solid evidence that it really works. The people I work with seem fairly lack-lustre about it. I'd welcome any proper independent verification of its utility.
- dchest 8y ago
  It's https://www.opendyslexic.org/ https://www.opendyslexic.org/
  - nsgoetz 8y ago
    My sister has dyslexia and confirmed that it’s so much easier for her to read. Her face lit up with excitement the first time we saw it.
    - laumars 8y ago
      It must depend on the person because I don't find it helps at all. If anything, it's slightly harder to read.
    - velox_io 8y ago
      Wow, for me it looks like the tops of many of the characters has been rubbed off. These 'fat-bottomed' fonts seem to be a common theme. I do find it strange that a font designed for readability (such as Consolas -my fav for any text editor), isn't mentioned as a readable font for dyslexics (or why it isn't). Monospacing improves the readability of certain characters (i,l,t) words with this combination of characters (ill, lit, readability) often end up getting very compressed.
- grzm 8y ago
  The font is OpenDyslexic, specifically "designed against some common symptoms of dyslexia." https://www.opendyslexic.org https://www.opendyslexic.org
  - drhodes 8y ago
    A small scientific study was done that concluded: "These results indicate there may be no benefit for translating print materials to this font." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5629233/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5629233/
    - Avamander 8y ago
      Sample size is 12 though, I wouldn't conclude anything.
      - Someone1234 8y ago
        Considering there's no evidence it does work, it is reasonable to make that our default assumption as that's the only data available at this time. People have been shopping around these fonts for years, first paid, and now free but in both cases the claims that they help aren't supported. I'd be particularly interested to see their effectiveness Vs. a placebo.
        Avamander 8y ago
        Cases that claim they don't help are just as unsupported? Having the font as an option won't hurt anyone for sure.
        Someone1234 8y ago
        > Cases that claim they don't help are just as unsupported? Except there's a study looking at it, with 12 participants, that found it didn't help. That's the best data we have, and current data suggests it doesn't help. If you can find a study about Dyslexic fonts which supports their usage that would be compelling. Until then, that's what we have.
- Avamander 8y ago
  I'm non-dyslexic and I'd say the same. I think my brain switched to individual letter recognition instead of whole-word recognition which made it so much slower, maybe it just takes getting used to?
  - dingaling 8y ago
    I've used that style of font for ny terminals for over a decade and it becomes very easy and quick to read. Looking at 'normal' terminal fonts now is jarring, they seem so spindly and don't form 'word shapes' as readily.
- BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
  Are you sure that it's the font and not the clearly non-native English making it harder to parse? For me the font is ugly but still just as readable, whereas the hallmark signs of an ESL writer were definitely noticable. Also the abysmally loose kerning and undifferentiated leading make everything run together into a scattered wall of text, which probably doesn't help.
  - rjmunro 8y ago
    I've put up a couple of PRs to fix some of the English and the line spacing. Preview here: https://rjmunro.github.io/osm-for-the-dyslexic.github.io/ https://rjmunro.github.io/osm-for-the-dyslexic.github.io/ I hope they merge them as it looks a lot better to my (admittedly non-dyslexic) eyes.
- TomK32 8y ago
  the lack of line-spacing and long lines make it even worse.
  - mattlondon 8y ago
    Yep - the line height is too cramped. Also it is black on grey so the contrast is probably not as good as it could be? I note on the https://www.opendyslexic.org/ https://www.opendyslexic.org/ page that the line spacing is much larger and they use what appears to me to be higher-contrast colours. I am allegedly dyslexic (still not sure if the school just labelled me as that since I had some trouble spelling as a 5 year old, of if I really am dyslexic) and that page is a nightmare to read. It genuinely makes my eyes hurt to try and read that combination of font and spacing - I dont want to criticise like this, but unfortunately its tough for me to look at that and read it. I'd recommend improving things by: - try changing the background to white, and change the foreground to a dark-grey (not 100% black). - use large line-spacing and padding to break things out a bit to make it easier on the eye. - As well as an option of being all-caps or not, offer sans and serif font options.
fredley 8y ago
It didn't work zooming in past city-level for me, I'm guessing that's a limitation of the prototype? The flags were an interesting choice instead of country names. I can see how this could be easier to parse than denser country labels, but it does required knowledge of flags. Other than that is the main difference just the use of the dyslexic font and a reduction in label density?
- thinkingemote 8y ago
  I think they just have data in Switzerland and Italy. It get's down to neighbourhood level, but not any closer.
SwingingShips 8y ago
Nice
liotier 8y ago
Considering the existence of a two-years old thread at https://www.reddit.com/r/openstreetmap/comments/4i5o1h/osm_for_the_dyslexic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/openstreetmap/comments/4i5o1h/osm_f... this prototype is at least two-years old.
- thinkingemote 8y ago
  I believe the project is at least 2 years, but the web map at http://www.osm4dys.org/viewer/ http://www.osm4dys.org/viewer/ is newer. At the very least, I heard about this recently.
BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
On Android 7.0 I can't get past the about screen. It says to click somewhere but I've clicked everywhere and nothing happens.
- thinkingemote 8y ago
  try to long-click the icons. I had to do that on my laptop anyhow, it's strange.
neom 8y ago
As someone with severe dyslexia I hate this font so much. It's so damn ugly and it HARDLY works (for me it's < 10% better). If someone could design an elegant front weighed so that an internal drop shadow can help the mind render the character more easily and accurately in 3D space, that would be a god send.
- swebs 8y ago
  Out of curiosity, does the Team Fortress 2 font have any effect for you? It looks so similar to the one linked in the article that I thought they were the same. https://www.dafont.com/tf2-secondary.font?text=The+quick+brown+fox+jumps+over+the+lazy+dog&psize=s https://www.dafont.com/tf2-secondary.font?text=The+quick+bro...
  - neom 8y ago
    A bit, generally speaking any font that creates some novelty in the shape usually helps a bit. On this font the b/d and u/n are still similar.
- Milner08 8y ago
  I agree, I think it trades off being ever so slightly easier to read with being so damn ugly I don't want to read it. I actually think Comic Sans (as ugly as that is) is easier to read and less ugly than this font.
  - neom 8y ago
    I totally agree. I would much prefer to struggle through without it. As a side note, I find it hilarious that they chose to do this with a mapping tool. From what I've gathered from other dyslexic folks and in my experience, maps are actually especially easy to deal with.
- TremendousJudge 8y ago
  What do you think about this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexie I've read about it several times but since I don't have dyslexia I don't know if it actually works
tartrate 8y ago
It's funny how the site misspells "dyslexics" twice.
- chrismatheson 8y ago
  ironic maybe, but quite possibly the author is dyslexic themselves and made the mistake easily? I can say from personal experience its never funny for the author.
tomxor 8y ago
> DYSLEXICS FEEL BETTER WHEN: ... SAME COLORS REPRESENT SAME THINGS, FEW INFORMATION ARE ON THE SCREEN. I was identified as being "dyslexic" as a child, I had difficulty learning to read - but at some point I had an "aha" moment that I still remember very clearly even though I was very young: "english is full of completely illogical inconsistent nonsense, it's largely just a memory game combined with a bunch of very subtle rules", but of course as a child no one ever explicitly tells you this, I can only assume most people either just grok that or put up with it unconsciously without effort. As soon as I realised this it was much easier to progress and also more generally modulate my natural tendency to look for the assumed presence of logic and consistency in other systems created by humans - basically the "accepting random shit" filter that the majority of people seem to have by default, I don't think I could have carved my own career into the obscurity of computers and technology without that skill that others seem to just have, but it's also handy to maintain my original perspective because it helps me see flaws, weaknesses, inconsistency etc in designs very quickly. The above list reminded me of this, and although I wouldn't say it's "wrong", I am pretty sure everyone has a preference for those attributes: consistency (same colours representing the same things) and only relevant info on the screen etc - so in short perhaps it's just that dyslexics are more sensitive to bullshit and poor design, but being one doesn't make me an expert. [EDIT] Alternate hypothesis: I'm not dyslexic and was misdiagnosed, after all there is a whole multidimensional spectrum of non-neurotypicals and dyslexia sounds like a pretty arbitrary category.
- onemoresoop 8y ago
  Never been diagnosed as a dyslexic but was always wondering if i had a tiny bit of dyslexia for the same reason, the bullshit detector going off all the time. I don't have a problem now unless something is really inconsistent and it's more of an acceptance thing. Something rubs the wrong way
  - tomxor 8y ago
    I'm not even sure it is dyslexia, just that it can sometimes manifest itself similarly. It's like some kind of naive idealism as a child but at a very low level, then you are presented these two systems for the same language one which you pick up naturally through mimicry and the other learned consciously is supposed to represent it, with some semi-consistent rules and then a million seemingly arbitrary exceptions that you are supposed to ignore and learn. I'm not saying you or I are particularly special in that ability (i'm sure many people notice these things), but the problem is if you notice these things in the wrong order, more specifically before you have the tools to be accepting of it: now that i'm older I can understanding the origin of these things (their evolution) and even being able to appreciate their subtleties as linguistic flourish rather than merely irritating inconsistency. The same goes for all the other crazy "systems" that have been invented, anywhere that a system has some kind of evolution and social interplay it's riddled with strange things that you would never design into it, if you are an extreme idealist this will drive you mad, but understanding it as an inevitable effect of the context of these systems makes it much more palatable - from a kind of "chaos theory" perspective. As an aside, I have heard that German is phonetically very logical compared to English.
nicklovescode 8y ago
Hey everyone - I'm working on a book reader that allows you to read text while it annotates using Wavenet. I have dyslexia and I've found that I can read so quickly with high retention using this method, and having specialized software for it is nicer. It might help anyone here who suffers from the same thing that I do. Email me at cammarata.nick@gmail.com if you want to be an early user!
velox_io 8y ago
As a dyslexic person, this actually makes things worse. I have a hard time reading caps, I believe it's because the characters have the same vertical positioning so there are less visual cues to go on. A similar thing with serif fonts, I understand that the tails are meant to aid readers, but I just find it as additional noise. Switching that font to lowercase doesn't help much (didn't see the link at the top of the page initially, not until I went back to the page in fact). That font feels like my monitor is badly in need of calibration. I get that they're adding a horizontal rule to aid readers to follow each line, but it just looks weird! Maybe things would be different if I grew up with it. Plus I've put in tonnes of time and effort reading 'normal' fonts. Pro tips: -Line spacing greatly helps things (things get cryptic when it's removed). -Small fonts make things harder to read (right now my browser is at 150%, have a 43" monitor so why not). I generally increase the font 20% (even when I have no eyesight problems). -Contrast! Bright coloured/ contrasted backgrounds (such as black on red) make make things much harder to reader to read (I left that typo in, brain was still thinking about harder and read (er... did it again here) at the same time)). Feels as though there's too much info coming in simultaneously. Similar with black on white, but not as bad. That could just be an ADD/ ASD thing (there's a surprising amount of crossover) as I literally hate the white from some LED bulbs (10k+) - it's piercing. -Avoid overly long paragraphs (tend to get a little lost in the wall of text). Dyslexia is a funny thing, it affects people in different ways to different degrees (a friend of mine is a bank manager, yet he can barely write a text message). It's taken me a while to develop strategies, such as: I read any any [duplicate word] text I write at least three times, yet I still have errors. Often sound words in my head as I write, and some words I constantly get wrong. Such as 'field', have to remember it as 'fI-elD' (hard i at the start) - Kind of ironic as the secondary school I went to had field in its name (luckily it was embossed on my jumper:D) and now I constantly work with databases. At school my literacy was appalling, at college it was embarrassing (with tutor corrections on every line), wasn't on uni/ after that I started to get a handle on things. In my thirties I still feel I'm improving, people often judge intelligence in people's ability to write. I'm sure some of my teachers would bet good money that I'd never be able to touch-type (although I'd be lost without spellcheck). If anyone knows a text reader that isn't a pain in the a (able to read a paragraph or article, and not follow my cursor as I change applications). I'm all ears! ;)
- 8y ago
GunlogAlm 8y ago
Regarding the font used, OpenDyslexic, there isn't actually any evidence it helps readability (apparently): https://s-e-o.org/which-font-is-best-for-dyslexic-users-the-science-reviewed/ https://s-e-o.org/which-font-is-best-for-dyslexic-users-the-...
LegendaryPatMan 8y ago
The three most helpful things for me as a dyslexic are; 1. Highlight the text I'm reading. That text is HORRIFIC when highlighted so I can follow what I'm reading 2. Make my window thinner so my eyes have less travel distance from left to right. It's harder for my eye to wander to other lines etc 3. Line spacing! For the same reason as above. This site doesn't do 3, 1 has overlapping font with highlight making it harder to read and I think does a poor job of 2... Like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a kid again and my mam is telling me something she read in some stupid magazine that's taking advantage of her desire to be a good mother. She wants to help me but the advice in the magazine about curing dyslexia with Angostura bitters isn't going to work and feels like a cruel joke played by whoever wrote that article... Just like that incident, there was ZERO evidence and the about section of the site has ZERO evidence as to whether any of this works
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

146 points by thinkingemote 8y ago

Interesting choice of font. Does the font help with reading it to the dyslexic? For me it makes it actually harder. (I get that all-caps might help, but that font?) EDIT: Apart from that, it's a cool idea though

Angostura 8y ago
I work at a facility where there are many dyslexic people and I've done quite a bit of research, but have failed to find any really solid evidence that it really works. The people I work with seem fairly lack-lustre about it. I'd welcome any proper independent verification of its utility.
dchest 8y ago
It's https://www.opendyslexic.org/ https://www.opendyslexic.org/
- nsgoetz 8y ago
  My sister has dyslexia and confirmed that it’s so much easier for her to read. Her face lit up with excitement the first time we saw it.
  - laumars 8y ago
    It must depend on the person because I don't find it helps at all. If anything, it's slightly harder to read.
  - velox_io 8y ago
    Wow, for me it looks like the tops of many of the characters has been rubbed off. These 'fat-bottomed' fonts seem to be a common theme. I do find it strange that a font designed for readability (such as Consolas -my fav for any text editor), isn't mentioned as a readable font for dyslexics (or why it isn't). Monospacing improves the readability of certain characters (i,l,t) words with this combination of characters (ill, lit, readability) often end up getting very compressed.
grzm 8y ago
The font is OpenDyslexic, specifically "designed against some common symptoms of dyslexia." https://www.opendyslexic.org https://www.opendyslexic.org
- drhodes 8y ago
  A small scientific study was done that concluded: "These results indicate there may be no benefit for translating print materials to this font." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5629233/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5629233/
  - Avamander 8y ago
    Sample size is 12 though, I wouldn't conclude anything.
    - Someone1234 8y ago
      Considering there's no evidence it does work, it is reasonable to make that our default assumption as that's the only data available at this time. People have been shopping around these fonts for years, first paid, and now free but in both cases the claims that they help aren't supported. I'd be particularly interested to see their effectiveness Vs. a placebo.
      - Avamander 8y ago
        Cases that claim they don't help are just as unsupported? Having the font as an option won't hurt anyone for sure.
        Someone1234 8y ago
        > Cases that claim they don't help are just as unsupported? Except there's a study looking at it, with 12 participants, that found it didn't help. That's the best data we have, and current data suggests it doesn't help. If you can find a study about Dyslexic fonts which supports their usage that would be compelling. Until then, that's what we have.
Avamander 8y ago
I'm non-dyslexic and I'd say the same. I think my brain switched to individual letter recognition instead of whole-word recognition which made it so much slower, maybe it just takes getting used to?
- dingaling 8y ago
  I've used that style of font for ny terminals for over a decade and it becomes very easy and quick to read. Looking at 'normal' terminal fonts now is jarring, they seem so spindly and don't form 'word shapes' as readily.
BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
Are you sure that it's the font and not the clearly non-native English making it harder to parse? For me the font is ugly but still just as readable, whereas the hallmark signs of an ESL writer were definitely noticable. Also the abysmally loose kerning and undifferentiated leading make everything run together into a scattered wall of text, which probably doesn't help.
- rjmunro 8y ago
  I've put up a couple of PRs to fix some of the English and the line spacing. Preview here: https://rjmunro.github.io/osm-for-the-dyslexic.github.io/ https://rjmunro.github.io/osm-for-the-dyslexic.github.io/ I hope they merge them as it looks a lot better to my (admittedly non-dyslexic) eyes.
TomK32 8y ago
the lack of line-spacing and long lines make it even worse.
- mattlondon 8y ago
  Yep - the line height is too cramped. Also it is black on grey so the contrast is probably not as good as it could be? I note on the https://www.opendyslexic.org/ https://www.opendyslexic.org/ page that the line spacing is much larger and they use what appears to me to be higher-contrast colours. I am allegedly dyslexic (still not sure if the school just labelled me as that since I had some trouble spelling as a 5 year old, of if I really am dyslexic) and that page is a nightmare to read. It genuinely makes my eyes hurt to try and read that combination of font and spacing - I dont want to criticise like this, but unfortunately its tough for me to look at that and read it. I'd recommend improving things by: - try changing the background to white, and change the foreground to a dark-grey (not 100% black). - use large line-spacing and padding to break things out a bit to make it easier on the eye. - As well as an option of being all-caps or not, offer sans and serif font options.

fredley 8y ago

It didn't work zooming in past city-level for me, I'm guessing that's a limitation of the prototype? The flags were an interesting choice instead of country names. I can see how this could be easier to parse than denser country labels, but it does required knowledge of flags. Other than that is the main difference just the use of the dyslexic font and a reduction in label density?

thinkingemote 8y ago
I think they just have data in Switzerland and Italy. It get's down to neighbourhood level, but not any closer.

SwingingShips 8y ago

Nice

liotier 8y ago

Considering the existence of a two-years old thread at https://www.reddit.com/r/openstreetmap/comments/4i5o1h/osm_for_the_dyslexic/ https://www.reddit.com/r/openstreetmap/comments/4i5o1h/osm_f... this prototype is at least two-years old.

thinkingemote 8y ago
I believe the project is at least 2 years, but the web map at http://www.osm4dys.org/viewer/ http://www.osm4dys.org/viewer/ is newer. At the very least, I heard about this recently.

BugsJustFindMe 8y ago

On Android 7.0 I can't get past the about screen. It says to click somewhere but I've clicked everywhere and nothing happens.

thinkingemote 8y ago
try to long-click the icons. I had to do that on my laptop anyhow, it's strange.

neom 8y ago

As someone with severe dyslexia I hate this font so much. It's so damn ugly and it HARDLY works (for me it's < 10% better). If someone could design an elegant front weighed so that an internal drop shadow can help the mind render the character more easily and accurately in 3D space, that would be a god send.

swebs 8y ago
Out of curiosity, does the Team Fortress 2 font have any effect for you? It looks so similar to the one linked in the article that I thought they were the same. https://www.dafont.com/tf2-secondary.font?text=The+quick+brown+fox+jumps+over+the+lazy+dog&psize=s https://www.dafont.com/tf2-secondary.font?text=The+quick+bro...
- neom 8y ago
  A bit, generally speaking any font that creates some novelty in the shape usually helps a bit. On this font the b/d and u/n are still similar.
Milner08 8y ago
I agree, I think it trades off being ever so slightly easier to read with being so damn ugly I don't want to read it. I actually think Comic Sans (as ugly as that is) is easier to read and less ugly than this font.
- neom 8y ago
  I totally agree. I would much prefer to struggle through without it. As a side note, I find it hilarious that they chose to do this with a mapping tool. From what I've gathered from other dyslexic folks and in my experience, maps are actually especially easy to deal with.
TremendousJudge 8y ago
What do you think about this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexie I've read about it several times but since I don't have dyslexia I don't know if it actually works

tartrate 8y ago

It's funny how the site misspells "dyslexics" twice.

chrismatheson 8y ago
ironic maybe, but quite possibly the author is dyslexic themselves and made the mistake easily? I can say from personal experience its never funny for the author.

tomxor 8y ago

> DYSLEXICS FEEL BETTER WHEN: ... SAME COLORS REPRESENT SAME THINGS, FEW INFORMATION ARE ON THE SCREEN. I was identified as being "dyslexic" as a child, I had difficulty learning to read - but at some point I had an "aha" moment that I still remember very clearly even though I was very young: "english is full of completely illogical inconsistent nonsense, it's largely just a memory game combined with a bunch of very subtle rules", but of course as a child no one ever explicitly tells you this, I can only assume most people either just grok that or put up with it unconsciously without effort. As soon as I realised this it was much easier to progress and also more generally modulate my natural tendency to look for the assumed presence of logic and consistency in other systems created by humans - basically the "accepting random shit" filter that the majority of people seem to have by default, I don't think I could have carved my own career into the obscurity of computers and technology without that skill that others seem to just have, but it's also handy to maintain my original perspective because it helps me see flaws, weaknesses, inconsistency etc in designs very quickly. The above list reminded me of this, and although I wouldn't say it's "wrong", I am pretty sure everyone has a preference for those attributes: consistency (same colours representing the same things) and only relevant info on the screen etc - so in short perhaps it's just that dyslexics are more sensitive to bullshit and poor design, but being one doesn't make me an expert. [EDIT] Alternate hypothesis: I'm not dyslexic and was misdiagnosed, after all there is a whole multidimensional spectrum of non-neurotypicals and dyslexia sounds like a pretty arbitrary category.

onemoresoop 8y ago
Never been diagnosed as a dyslexic but was always wondering if i had a tiny bit of dyslexia for the same reason, the bullshit detector going off all the time. I don't have a problem now unless something is really inconsistent and it's more of an acceptance thing. Something rubs the wrong way
- tomxor 8y ago
  I'm not even sure it is dyslexia, just that it can sometimes manifest itself similarly. It's like some kind of naive idealism as a child but at a very low level, then you are presented these two systems for the same language one which you pick up naturally through mimicry and the other learned consciously is supposed to represent it, with some semi-consistent rules and then a million seemingly arbitrary exceptions that you are supposed to ignore and learn. I'm not saying you or I are particularly special in that ability (i'm sure many people notice these things), but the problem is if you notice these things in the wrong order, more specifically before you have the tools to be accepting of it: now that i'm older I can understanding the origin of these things (their evolution) and even being able to appreciate their subtleties as linguistic flourish rather than merely irritating inconsistency. The same goes for all the other crazy "systems" that have been invented, anywhere that a system has some kind of evolution and social interplay it's riddled with strange things that you would never design into it, if you are an extreme idealist this will drive you mad, but understanding it as an inevitable effect of the context of these systems makes it much more palatable - from a kind of "chaos theory" perspective. As an aside, I have heard that German is phonetically very logical compared to English.

nicklovescode 8y ago

Hey everyone - I'm working on a book reader that allows you to read text while it annotates using Wavenet. I have dyslexia and I've found that I can read so quickly with high retention using this method, and having specialized software for it is nicer. It might help anyone here who suffers from the same thing that I do. Email me at cammarata.nick@gmail.com if you want to be an early user!

velox_io 8y ago

As a dyslexic person, this actually makes things worse. I have a hard time reading caps, I believe it's because the characters have the same vertical positioning so there are less visual cues to go on. A similar thing with serif fonts, I understand that the tails are meant to aid readers, but I just find it as additional noise. Switching that font to lowercase doesn't help much (didn't see the link at the top of the page initially, not until I went back to the page in fact). That font feels like my monitor is badly in need of calibration. I get that they're adding a horizontal rule to aid readers to follow each line, but it just looks weird! Maybe things would be different if I grew up with it. Plus I've put in tonnes of time and effort reading 'normal' fonts. Pro tips: -Line spacing greatly helps things (things get cryptic when it's removed). -Small fonts make things harder to read (right now my browser is at 150%, have a 43" monitor so why not). I generally increase the font 20% (even when I have no eyesight problems). -Contrast! Bright coloured/ contrasted backgrounds (such as black on red) make make things much harder to reader to read (I left that typo in, brain was still thinking about harder and read (er... did it again here) at the same time)). Feels as though there's too much info coming in simultaneously. Similar with black on white, but not as bad. That could just be an ADD/ ASD thing (there's a surprising amount of crossover) as I literally hate the white from some LED bulbs (10k+) - it's piercing. -Avoid overly long paragraphs (tend to get a little lost in the wall of text). Dyslexia is a funny thing, it affects people in different ways to different degrees (a friend of mine is a bank manager, yet he can barely write a text message). It's taken me a while to develop strategies, such as: I read any any [duplicate word] text I write at least three times, yet I still have errors. Often sound words in my head as I write, and some words I constantly get wrong. Such as 'field', have to remember it as 'fI-elD' (hard i at the start) - Kind of ironic as the secondary school I went to had field in its name (luckily it was embossed on my jumper:D) and now I constantly work with databases. At school my literacy was appalling, at college it was embarrassing (with tutor corrections on every line), wasn't on uni/ after that I started to get a handle on things. In my thirties I still feel I'm improving, people often judge intelligence in people's ability to write. I'm sure some of my teachers would bet good money that I'd never be able to touch-type (although I'd be lost without spellcheck). If anyone knows a text reader that isn't a pain in the a (able to read a paragraph or article, and not follow my cursor as I change applications). I'm all ears! ;)

8y ago

GunlogAlm 8y ago

Regarding the font used, OpenDyslexic, there isn't actually any evidence it helps readability (apparently): https://s-e-o.org/which-font-is-best-for-dyslexic-users-the-science-reviewed/ https://s-e-o.org/which-font-is-best-for-dyslexic-users-the-...

LegendaryPatMan 8y ago

The three most helpful things for me as a dyslexic are; 1. Highlight the text I'm reading. That text is HORRIFIC when highlighted so I can follow what I'm reading 2. Make my window thinner so my eyes have less travel distance from left to right. It's harder for my eye to wander to other lines etc 3. Line spacing! For the same reason as above. This site doesn't do 3, 1 has overlapping font with highlight making it harder to read and I think does a poor job of 2... Like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a kid again and my mam is telling me something she read in some stupid magazine that's taking advantage of her desire to be a good mother. She wants to help me but the advice in the magazine about curing dyslexia with Angostura bitters isn't going to work and feels like a cruel joke played by whoever wrote that article... Just like that incident, there was ZERO evidence and the about section of the site has ZERO evidence as to whether any of this works

deleted 8y ago

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