Skimming Twitter found me this little gem of an article on fonts and reading comprehension: Hideous Fonts may boost reading comprehension. It makes for interesting reading and raises some rather terrifying points, some of which I've kind of run up against myself.
Namely the one on e-readers and reading comprehension. I've long since discovered that when I read on the computer, I'm reading faster; almost skimming, rather than reading. Not good, when it comes to reading articles or anything for a class, though alright when it's a novel. I'm not sure how it's going to play out with the Kobo to date.
Anyway, this is definitely an article worth reading.
4 comments:
great article!
I too find that when I read on the screen, after the first line or two of a paragraph, I just want to skim the rest. If I'm working in an editable document, I try to make each paragraph only a few sentences long (regardless of where the breaks should be), so I'm less tempted to get unfocused.
one of my favorite things about physical books is the different design choices that are made, for the fonts, the headings, even the page numbers. City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer is a perfect example, it includes at least 10 different typefaces to denote different things. and without those typeface changes, you would lose the subtleties, the sense of place.
I haven't noticed that too much with print books before - maybe I'm just not reading books where that's been done. And, I've never thought too much about font choices in books - they all rather look the same to me.
Thanks for the comment, redhead.
Worth reading, indeed . . . or skimming, since I'm on the computer! Hard copy definitely operates in a different part of my brain. I'm forever printing things out for that final, crucial proofread.
I never realized the world of fonts was so detailed and people were passionate about it. Interesting article, though, and what a clever title.
It really is, J.G. And full of things I'd not thought about (or thought that it was just me about).
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