#13331
Determining the Best Online Font for Older Adults
Studies examining the legibility of fonts on computer screens have almost exclusively investigated young to middle aged adults. However, because of many age-related factors affecting reading, one should be fairly cautious in generalizing these findings to older adults. In light of this, this study sought to examine this population by studying the legibility, reading time, as well as the general font preference for two types of serif and sans serif fonts at 12- and 14-point sizes on computer screens.
Bernard, Michael, Corrina Liao and Melissa Mills. Usability News (2001). Design>Typography>Accessibility>Elderly
#13611
Sometimes technological progress backfires, and the 'better' technology turns out to be worse for users. The Web is no stranger to this problem, and has experienced many innovations that would have been best avoided. Examples include frames, changing the color of browser scrollbars, and scrolling text. Another example of harmful Web technology comes with the increasing use of style sheets, which let web designers specify the exact size of text down to the pixel. Unfortunately, many designers are using this ability, leading to reduced readability of an increasing number of websites.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Design>Accessibility>Web Design>Typography
#29562
Typography and the Aging Eye: Typeface Legibility for Older Viewers with Vision Problems
The population is rapidly aging and becoming a larger share of the marketplace. The demands of the aging eye require typefaces that function well under low-vision conditions. Can signage display useful information that is accessible to all ages?
Nini, Paul. AIGA (2006). Design>Typography>Accessibility>Elderly
#30605
A zoom layout uses CSS (cascading stylesheets) to automatically reformat a page so it's easier for a low-vision user to read. Multiple columns become single columns, navigation gets simplified and put at the top, fonts become bigger, and (usually) colours are set to light on dark.
Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Typography
#32911
In order to provide scalable text, make textual information text (rather than images), and use relative text sizes (rather than absolute). Scalable text is important for people with low vision. The basics of providing scalable text are very simple. However, strict design requests can pose challenges.
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UI Access (2002). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Typography
#34773
People with dyslexia frequently experience discomfort when reading because they find it more difficult to ‘decode’ the words on the page, and can also find it difficult to remain focussed on a particular piece of text. Some people may also have to concentrate more to remember what they have already read, which means they will tire more easily.
Hobo (2008). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Typography
