Fonts for readability on eink?

[Keybounce]

So I am curious about the many different fonts and legibility on eink devices. I have seen a few threads on this, but they range from 7 to 14 years old. And they compared versions of fonts at that time, and fonts keep getting tweaks and improved hinting.

So, what are considered good fonts for readability today?

I'm not concerned with "readability at 6-8 point", because I don't read that tiny.

[DNSB]

My personal font of choice at this time is Charis SIL 6.200. I add weight to the font on my Kobo ereaders.

[jackm8]

Font hinting became useless with higher resolution screens. Screens are of such high resolution that even at a very small font settings it's not utilised.

Fonts legibility is about ones preferences and habits. One could argue that people of the past that were used to Schwabacher style fonts, would have as many problems reading text in modern fonts, as we have in theirs. Personally, I just like pretty design. My eyesight is appaling, but my glasses are sharp, so I like nice thin serifs, and distinct italics to go along.

[Aleron Ives]

There's no consensus, since it's a matter of opinion. I prefer Georgia.

[meeera]

This is a matter of personal taste. I switch around between Georgia, Charis SIL, Gill Sans, Atkinson Hyperlegible, and a few others depending on my mood.

[hobnail]

On an e-reader the best fonts are what are called low contrast fonts, a term that doesn't mean the same thing as with images. A low contrast font has less difference between the thick parts of a glyph and the thin parts. For example, if you look at the capital O in Georgia, it's noticeably thicker on the sides and much thinner at the top and bottom. Compare that to the font that everyone loves to hate, Comic Sans, and the difference between the sides and top/bottom is nearly nonexistent. Fonts with sharp points on the serifs aren't low contrast. I prefer a font with serifs and finding nice low contrast fonts there is hard. The ones I currently use are Bitter, Alegreya, and Literata.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by hobnail

On an e-reader the best fonts are what are called low contrast fonts, a term that doesn't mean the same thing as with images. A low contrast font has less difference between the thick parts of a glyph and the thin parts. For example, if you look at the capital O in Georgia, it's noticeably thicker on the sides and much thinner at the top and bottom.

That difference is barely noticeable once you increase Georgia's font weight to about 75% on a kobo.

[Sirtel]

My personal favorites are LexiaDama and ChareInk.

[Uncle Robin]

Eath's population is roughly 8 billion, which means that there are currently no fewer than 15.379265 billion answers to your question. For me, my preferred script for languages that use the Roman alphabet is Rakuten Serif and has been ever since Kobo introduced it.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by hobnail

On an e-reader the best fonts are what are called low contrast fonts, a term that doesn't mean the same thing as with images. A low contrast font has less difference between the thick parts of a glyph and the thin parts. For example, if you look at the capital O in Georgia, it's noticeably thicker on the sides and much thinner at the top and bottom. Compare that to the font that everyone loves to hate, Comic Sans, and the difference between the sides and top/bottom is nearly nonexistent. Fonts with sharp points on the serifs aren't low contrast. I prefer a font with serifs and finding nice low contrast fonts there is hard. The ones I currently use are Bitter, Alegreya, and Literata.

Yes. I think eink would need to be 400 dpi to 600 dpi rather than 300 dpi to use the same range of fonts as on paper. I tried some fonts I really liked in Paperback novels and they were poor on 300 dpi at my normal reading size and distance.

You notice on the 150 dpi (9.7″ screens) and 167 dpi screens that the fonts that are OK on 300 dpi or on a 5″ screen don't look so good.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by meeera

That difference is barely noticeable once you increase Georgia's font weight to about 75% on a kobo.

I find Georgia OK on 300 dpi eink, but I probably read with a bit larger than average size, so that might be equivalent to 75% weight increase on a smaller size. Probably not so good at smaller sizes on colour eink.

Note that the same name of font from different sources or times (Win3.x vs Win10) even from same "supplier" may be subtly different and the older one may suit eink better or worse depending on font and display size.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I find Georgia OK on 300 dpi eink, but I probably read with a bit larger than average size, so that might be equivalent to 75% weight increase on a smaller size. Probably not so good at smaller sizes on colour eink..

This is at a teeny-tiny font size on my Libra 2, well smaller than I can imagine any actual human reading at. It's 10 clicks below my usual reading size, and 11 clicks smaller than the print in the nearest paperback book I had to hand. Further fine adjustment to the weight would likely make it even better, but I can't see it well enough with my eyeballs to experiment, even with my glasses off.

[jackm8]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes. I think eink would need to be 400 dpi to 600 dpi rather than 300 dpi to use the same range of fonts as on paper. I tried some fonts I really liked in Paperback novels and they were poor on 300 dpi at my normal reading size and distance.

The main difference that you're seeing is down to ink splotching as it's printed and roughness of the paper. There are display fonts that simulate this.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by jackm8

The main difference that you're seeing is down to ink splotching as it's printed and roughness of the paper. There are display fonts that simulate this.

Maybe on cheap pulp, not on good paper.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jackm8

Font hinting became useless with higher resolution screens. Screens are of such high resolution that even at a very small font settings it's not utilised.

Fonts legibility is about ones preferences and habits. One could argue that people of the past that were used to Schwabacher style fonts, would have as many problems reading text in modern fonts, as we have in theirs. Personally, I just like pretty design. My eyesight is appaling, but my glasses are sharp, so I like nice thin serifs, and distinct italics to go along.

Kindles use hinting. When they removed hinting from Bookerly, you could see the need for hinting.