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Easiest to read font?

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
Arial/Times for print, Verdana/Georgia for screen... I read this on the intarweb somewhere, so it must be true?

Negative.


Serif Fonts (font with little tails and hooks like newspaper letter) are easier to read on paper.

Sans Serif Fonts (Sans means "non") are easier to read on screen.


According to the MLA, the easiest print font to read is Courier or Courier New, because the letters are the cleanest and evenly spaced. Even though I hate it because it's overused, Times New Roman is an easy to read font.

The easiest on screen fonts to read are any from the standard set that most web designers put in... Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, etc. etc.
 
I find Helvetica, Arial and Verdana especially easy to read both in print and on screen.

I am not so convinced of the school of thought that serif fonts are actually easier to read in print. I think most people just think that and as such convince themselves that it is true. Are there any actually studies/polls done to support this idea? Do people think that Times New Roman is the best simply because that is what Microsoft decided should be the default font in Word?

I think the serifs in Courier and Bookman Old Style are okay, but I personally find Times New Roman entirely too busy for my eyes.
 
Originally posted by: Injury
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
Arial/Times for print, Verdana/Georgia for screen... I read this on the intarweb somewhere, so it must be true?

Negative.


Serif Fonts (font with little tails and hooks like newspaper letter) are easier to read on paper.

Sans Serif Fonts (Sans means "non") are easier to read on screen.


According to the MLA, the easiest print font to read is Courier or Courier New, because the letters are the cleanest and evenly spaced. Even though I hate it because it's overused, Times New Roman is an easy to read font.

The easiest on screen fonts to read are any from the standard set that most web designers put in... Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, etc. etc.

Just had this discussion yesterday - I work in a publishing house and we only use Time Roman for text. Charts sometimes feature Arial. For our web versions of our publications we tend to use Arial. So, you're right:
Print - Times new roman
Web/financial data (charts)- Arial

I personally like verdana and our database, which is for in house use, uses that font.
 
I use Verdana and Tahoma. They are very similar, but one is more spaced-out, and takes up more horizontal space. I use this for all my PC, browsers, etc.
 
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