Comments on: Easy to read? Must be easy to do… http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/2010/02/08/easy-to-read-must-be-easy-to-do/ The remarkable and unremarkable about humans and the effect of their behaviour Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:23:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: CR http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/2010/02/08/easy-to-read-must-be-easy-to-do/comment-page-1/#comment-47 CR Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:37:39 +0000 http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/?p=220#comment-47 Ah yes, the 'it's good for dyslexics' argument. Several times have I asked people promoting this to provide proper peer-reviewed evidence and I am still waiting. It may well be good - I just haven't seen the evidence. The fact it goes against 500 years of lessons learnt in readable typesetting doesn't help it's case. If I try reading it, the irregular sizing of letters causes my eye to start scanning at line 1 and be around line 4 by the time I get to the right. However, I do warn students on day 1 - any work in Comic Sans will be deemed illegible and given 0%. While they are boring, Times New Roman / Arial work! Though personally, I like Garamond... Ah yes, the ‘it’s good for dyslexics’ argument. Several times have I asked people promoting this to provide proper peer-reviewed evidence and I am still waiting. It may well be good – I just haven’t seen the evidence. The fact it goes against 500 years of lessons learnt in readable typesetting doesn’t help it’s case.

If I try reading it, the irregular sizing of letters causes my eye to start scanning at line 1 and be around line 4 by the time I get to the right. However, I do warn students on day 1 – any work in Comic Sans will be deemed illegible and given 0%. While they are boring, Times New Roman / Arial work! Though personally, I like Garamond…

]]> By: Ruth Thompson http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/2010/02/08/easy-to-read-must-be-easy-to-do/comment-page-1/#comment-46 Ruth Thompson Thu, 27 May 2010 13:46:40 +0000 http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/?p=220#comment-46 hehe... funnily enough Comic Sans is a font (along with Arial) that is reccommended to be used to aid those with Dyslexia. It's described as a plain, evenly spaced font and alternatives would be Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet. Also in a small study (there were only 12 participants) to judge which font is the preferred font for childrens books....Comic Sans won out in terms of ease of reading and attractiveness. Arial and Courier were second in preference. Personally I think Comic Sans looks childish and isn't appropriate if professionalism is something you are trying to put across. You may be pleased to hear that there is a "ban Comic Sans" campaign, which has attempted to get legislation enacted in Canada. To read more about viewpoints on the various font types check out this BBC news article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6638423.stm Thanks for the comment Clarke, always interesting to hear other perspectives! hehe… funnily enough Comic Sans is a font (along with Arial) that is reccommended to be used to aid those with Dyslexia. It’s described as a plain, evenly spaced font and alternatives would be Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet. Also in a small study (there were only 12 participants) to judge which font is the preferred font for childrens books….Comic Sans won out in terms of ease of reading and attractiveness. Arial and Courier were second in preference.

Personally I think Comic Sans looks childish and isn’t appropriate if professionalism is something you are trying to put across. You may be pleased to hear that there is a “ban Comic Sans” campaign, which has attempted to get legislation enacted in Canada. To read more about viewpoints on the various font types check out this BBC news article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6638423.stm

Thanks for the comment Clarke, always interesting to hear other perspectives!

]]> By: CR http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/2010/02/08/easy-to-read-must-be-easy-to-do/comment-page-1/#comment-45 CR Mon, 24 May 2010 06:59:02 +0000 http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/?p=220#comment-45 I can't be the only one who finds Comic Sans an unreadable distraction, can I? I can’t be the only one who finds Comic Sans an unreadable distraction, can I?

]]> By: Ruth Thompson http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/2010/02/08/easy-to-read-must-be-easy-to-do/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Ruth Thompson Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:35:16 +0000 http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/?p=220#comment-27 Thanks for the link Dawn...good to have these resources on hand! Thanks for the link Dawn…good to have these resources on hand!

]]> By: Dawn Baird http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/2010/02/08/easy-to-read-must-be-easy-to-do/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Dawn Baird Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:11:42 +0000 http://www.thebehavioureffect.com/?p=220#comment-26 I also love this site, for learning about new fonts: http://typography.com/. I also love this site, for learning about new fonts: http://typography.com/.

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