This content originally appeared on NN/g latest articles and announcements and was authored by Jakob Nielsen
Summary: Among high-legibility fonts, a study found 35% difference in reading speeds between the best and the worst. People read 11% slower for every 20 years they age.
A large new study of the best fonts for online reading is ultimately disappointing, because it doesn’t answer the most burning question: what font should you use for your website? But it still provides many intriguing findings, including the striking conclusion that there is no single answer to this question.
The Research Study
Shaun Wallace from Adobe and colleagues conducted a reading-speed study with 352 participants. The participants were asked to read several short passages of text; each passage had 300–500 words each (by comparison, this article contains 2,623 words and the average web page contains 593 words). The test stimuli were at an approximate 8th grade reading level, which matches our recommendation for web content targeted at a broad consumer audience . (This article is written at a 12th grade reading level, but it targets professionals , not the general public.)
The texts were shown in 16 different fonts, with appropriate experimental controls for things like order effects.
Read Full Article
This content originally appeared on NN/g latest articles and announcements and was authored by Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen | Sciencx (2022-04-24T16:00:00+00:00) Best Font for Online Reading: No Single Answer. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/04/24/best-font-for-online-reading-no-single-answer/
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