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Subject:Serif or san serif? (Take II) From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 19 Jun 2003 08:35:53 -0400
Diane Boos and Watson Laughton reported having trouble reading serif fonts,
particularly Times-family fonts, difficult to read onscreen.
This certainly isn't a unique complaint, but in my experience, the problem
is poor design, not an inherent problem with the font. Don't forget that
type size (and leading = line spacing) has a large impact on how legible any
font will be. I find most 10-point type too small for extended reading
onscreen, and design my files around 12-point text instead. That improves
legibility enormously.
Although I don't see any obvious way to let users override the type size in
WinHelp (suggestions welcomed!), any text viewed in a Web browser can be
enlarged to a size that suits you better; there's usually a Zoom or Text
Zoom option under the View menu, and you can sometimes set the browser
preferences to override the Web designer's type preferences. Worth trying if
online serif is driving you nuts.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my
telephone. My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my
telephone."--Bjarne Stronstrup (originator of C++ programming language)
RoboHelp Studio maximizes your Help authoring power by combining
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