Large letters: father’s help, my hindrance.
At home, my father has that annoying magnification setting on the computer which enlarges body text to a ridiculous size it should never be in unless on a screen fifteen feet away from your face. While this blatant misuse of text causes me to cringe through e-mails, Dad likes it because he can see the letters better. As a dyslexic, the better he can see the letters, the least likely he is to confuse them.
“A man walks into a qar”
Dyslexics are labeled for “flipping letters around,” leading to the annoying “a guy walks into a bra” and “I’m les-dexic” jokes. While this does touch on one manner of “flipping letters,” what is actually meant is the flipping of individual letters.
The Dyslexie video on the site above does a great job explaining difficulties dyslexics have with type. The Dyslexie typeface claims to make reading easier for dyslexics, but many of these typeface modifications and suggestions seem to be just good tips for type and layout in general.
Break through or old news?
The thicker bases are perhaps the most subtle attribute of the new sans-serif, added to keep letters from “floating off of the page.” However, this “grounding” the creator stresses the need for is one reason why serif fonts are suggested for larger blocks of text: they lead the eye along.
The author also spun wider centers for bowls and eyes* and more unique letter shapes as revolutionary. In contrast, this is exactly what the creators of Gill Sans and Clearview were working at, the first made for train time tables in 1927, the later a recent typeface made for highway signs.
These features allow us to recognize letters quicker and easier, which in all three cases, works great: Dyslexie, for people who have a harder time telling letters apart, Gill Sans, for hurried train passengers and Clearview, for drives going about five miles above the speed limit about to miss their exit.
Ideal layout for dyslexics, same for websurfers?
The creator of “Project Dyslexie” brings his audience to another page to talk about formatting, where tips discussed in my Media and Society class to keep online readers engaged are discussed. These include:
- Narrower columns/ Shorter sentences
- Short paragraphs
- Pictures to break up text
Not in my class though: left aligning text so people can find the next line easier.
E-world to open a new world
With the font available to download onto any computer, and possibly tablets, the world of e-books and PDFs may have just opened up a whole new world for dyslexics.
My dad consumes TONS of online articles since installing internet at home, printing them off onto reams of paper. With Dyslexie, he could copy and paste whole documents into a typeface better suited for him. E-book producers could even offer editions in Dyslexie, not having to gamble on who would want a print version.
Though I am a lover of serendipitous book findings and paper turning, Dyslexie may just be one more advantage I reluctantly see in e-books.
So, is Dyslexie all it claims to be?
Or is it just another Font style in the evolution in type?
I am interested to hear if any have made use of this electronically already, or know details on the capability of e-readers and tablets:
Can Dyslexie replace Times New Roman on a personal device?
No comments:
Post a Comment