Size 10 Font in User Guides Acceptable for Body Text?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Michael Ronquillo wondered: <<Is a size 10 font in user guides  
acceptable for body text? I was taught that anything below size 12 is  
too small.>>

First off, the question isn't meaningful unless you specify the font.  
Font size is not an absolute parameter; it is defined by the  
characteristics of the font itself; it's commonly measured from the  
top of the ascenders to the bottom of the descenders, and how a size  
is perceived also interacts strongly with the x-height (the height of  
the lower-case x in that font). Type 12-point Arial beside 12-point  
Times New Roman and you'll see what I mean: radically different  
perceived sizes. The Arial will appear heading-size to many readers,  
whereas the Times may be comfortable or feel only slightly too large  
for body text.

<<These guides are released to the public through online. I  
personally think it's too small and hard on the eyes, but is it  
alright?>>

For online information, which will be read primarily on the computer,  
you should generally not be hard-coding your font sizes. Possibly the  
greatest single advantage of online information is that it allows  
people to choose a typeface and type size that work for their  
specific eyes -- and fonts that work well for one person may be  
anathema to another person. (My wife uses type that is about half the  
size I can read comfortably. We've agreed to disagree over this. <g>)

For information that will be distributed online, but then printed and  
read on paper, it's always better to err on the size of caution and  
choose a slightly larger font. That's doubly true for an audience  
that includes a large proportion of older readers. (Me, for instance.  
<g>) There's no one perfect size for everyone, so you'll have to do a  
bit of experimenting to find a size that works well for your  
audience. If you can't talk to the real audience, choose a dozen  
people in your company with ages ranging form recent graduates (early  
20s) to older folks (50s and up) and ask them their opinions of the  
readability of four or five type samples. For example, present the  
same information at 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, and 12 points and ask them to  
choose both their preferred size and their comfort zone (range of  
acceptable sizes).

When I've done this, I've always found that most of the older folks  
preferred the larger type, but were willing to accept an intermediate  
size, whereas the younger folks preferred smaller type, but were  
again willing to accept an intermediate size. Some older folks will  
prefer small type, some younger folks will prefer large type, but on  
the whole, you'll find a "sweet spot" in the middle where both sets  
of preferences overlap. For an investment of half an hour of your  
time, you'll end up with a good first estimate of an appropriate type  
size.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
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