The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance

Nafiseh Hojjati; Balakrishnan Muniandy

doi:10.30935/cedtech/6122

Nafiseh Hojjati ¹ ^*, Balakrishnan Muniandy ¹

More Detail

CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp. 161-174

https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122

OPEN ACCESS 4023 Views 2443 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

Texts are a group of letters which are printed or displayed in a particular style and size. In the course of the fast speed of technological development everywhere and expanding use of computer based instruction such as online courses, students spend more time on a computer screen than printed media. Texts have been the main element to convey messages. It has also been a significant component for learning. The main goal of this research is to measure the effects of font type and spacing of on screen text and its readability in improving and boosting the learner’s ability to read easily, recall information, and enhance their reading speed and comprehension from on screen text with different topics. The readability of text on screens is necessary to ensure effective engagement in order to enhance the level of students’ readability. For this purpose two font types were selected, Times New Roman (serif) and Verdana (san serif) for the respondents. Verdana was designed only for computer screens display. Readability test on a computer screen was conducted on 30 postgraduate students. Overall, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the readability of serif and san serif font type of on-screen display. The research findings suggest Verdana font type as a better choice in displaying long text for on-screen display.

Keywords: Font type, Readability, Spacing, On-screen text, Serif, San serif

References

Ambrose, G. & Harris, P. (2006). Basics design 03: Typography. Lousanne, Switzerland: AVA Publishing.
Ambrose, G. & Harris, P. (2005). Typography. Lousanne, Switzerland: AVA Publishing.
Amdur, D. (2007). Typographic design in the digital studio: Design concepts. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson/Delmar Learning.
Armbruster, B. B. (1977). Matching readers and texts: The continuing quest. In D. Lapp, J.
Flood, and N. Farnan (Eds.), Content area reading and learning (3rd ed.). New York: Erlbaum.
Bernard, M., Mills, M., Peterson, M., & Storrer, K. (2001). A comparison of popular online fonts: Which is best and when? Retrieved on 12 February 2014 from http://psychology.wichita. edu/surl/usabilitynews/3S/font.htm
Berrymann, G. (1984). Notes on graphic design and visual. Los Altos, CA: Kaufman.
Boyarski, D., Neuwirth, C., Forlizzi, J., & Regl, S. (1998). A study of fonts designed for screen display. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 87-94). New York: ACM Press/Addison-Wesley.
Bryan, M. (1996). Digital typography sourcebook. Toronto, Canada: John Wiley & Sons.
Brady, P. ( 1993). Using type right: 121 basic no-nonsense rules for working with type. Chicago, IL: NTC Publishing Group.
Chaparro, B., Baker, J., Shaikh, A., Brady, L., & Hull, S. (2004). Reading online text: A comparison of four white space layouts. Retrieved on 9 August 2013 from http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/62/whitespace.htm
Clinton, G. (2003). Statistically significant differences between reading time of single and double spaces passages. AECT Leadership & Technology International Convention. Anaheim, CA.
Conover, C. (2003). Designing for print: An in-depth guide to planning creating and producing successful. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Dyson, M. (2004). How physical text layout affects reading from screen. Behaviour & Information Technology, 23(6), 377-393.
Ferrari, T. & Short, C. (2002). Legibility and readability. Retrieved on 9 August 2013 from http://bigital.com.
Font readability. (2013). Retrieved on 12 February 2014 from www.lcsc.edu
Gates, B. (n.d.). Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved on 12 February 2014 from http://www. microsoft.com/typography/web/default.htm
Gotz, V. (1998). Color & type for the screen. Hove, East Sussex, England: Rotovision.
Gunning, T. (2003). The role of readability in today's classrooms. Language Disorders, 23(3), 175-188.
Harris, W. (1996). The best faces for the screen. Retrieved on 9 August 2013 from http://www. will-haris.com/ typoscrn.htm.
Harris, w. (1998). Typefaces designed for the screen. Retrieved on 9 August 2013 from http://www.will-hariss.com/Verdana-Georgia
Holmes, J. (1986). Formatting variables and typeface variations of dot-matrix print and their effect on reading comprehension and reading speed. Retrieved on 12 February 2014 from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-02032004-161548/
Hyungsuk, J. & Hyunseung, C. (2007, May). An interactive user interface for text display.
Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Computational Science. Beijing, China.
Josephson, J. (2008). Keeping your readers’ eyes on the screen: An eye-tracking study comparing san serif and serif typefaces. Visual Communication Quarterly, 15(1-2), 67-79.
Loh, C., Maribe B., R., Shewanown, S., & Radwan, A. (2002). The effect of text spacing after the period on time for on-screen reading tasks. Selected Readings of the IVLA Annual Conference. IVLA.
Lupton, E. (2004). Thinking with type. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
McLean, R. (1980). The Thames and Hudson manual of typography. London: Thames.
Mills, C. & Weldon, L. (1987). Reading text from computer screens. ACM Computing Surveys, 19(4), 329-357.
Monotype. (1997). Web fonts for Microsoft. Retrieved from http://www.monotype.com/ html/news/nr_ms_web.html
Ni , X., Branch, R., Chen, K. C., & Clinton, G. (2009). The effects of text spacing on screen reading time and comprehension. International Journal of Instructional Media, 36(4), 383-390.
Peck, W. (2003). Great web typography. New York: Wiley.
Powell, A. (2002). Web design: The complete reference. Osborne: McGraw-Hill.
Rabinowitz , T. (2006). Exploring typography. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Strizver, I. (2010). Double spaces between sentences ... Not U&lc: Upper and Lowercase Magazine Online; Issue 41.1.1. International Typeface Organization and Monotype Imaging. Retrieved on 18 April 2014 from http://www.itcfonts.com/ulc/4111/ Doublespace.htm
Tschichold, J. (1965). Meisterbuch der schrift. Ravensburg: Otto Maier.
Turtschi , R. (1995). Praktische typographe: Gestalten mit dem personal computer. Sulgen, Germany: Niggli.
Williams, R. (1995). The PC is not a typewriter. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit.
Williams, R. (2003). The Mac is not a typewriter: A style manual for creating professional-level type on your Macintosh . Berkeley, CA: Peachpit.
Wilson, R. (2001). Text font readability study. Retrieved on 6 April 2013 from http://www. wilsonweb.com/wmt6/html-email-fonts.htm.
Woods, R., Davis, K., & Scharff, L. (2005). Effects of typeface and font size on legibility for children. American Journal of Psychological Research, 1(1), 86-102.
Yoshida, K. (2000). Avoiding typeface error. Society for Technical Communication Proceedings. Retrieved on 6 April 2013 from http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2000/PDFs/ 00006.pdf

Citation

Hojjati, N., & Muniandy, B. (2014). The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance. Contemporary Educational Technology, 5(2), 161-174. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122

Hojjati, N., and Muniandy, B. (2014). The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance. Contemporary Educational Technology, 5(2), pp. 161-174. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122

Hojjati N, Muniandy B. The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance. CONT ED TECHNOLOGY. 2014;5(2), 161-174. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122

Hojjati, Nafiseh, and Balakrishnan Muniandy. "The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance". Contemporary Educational Technology 2014 5 no. 2 (2014): 161-174. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122

Hojjati, Nafiseh et al. "The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance". Contemporary Educational Technology, vol. 5, no. 2, 2014, pp. 161-174. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122

Hojjati N, Muniandy B. The Effects of Font Type and Spacing of Text for Online Readability and Performance. CONT ED TECHNOLOGY. 2014;5(2):161-74. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/6122