Seeking the next most readable font after Lexend

[barryem]

I like bookerly. I don't really know why and before it was available I was happy with Cecaela. On another device I use Georgia. I find when I compare them my preference keeps changing. When I read I don't really think I care. I just read.

Barry

[Sirtel]

When custom fonts weren't available for Kindles, I read with Helvetica, a sans serif font. I just didn't like any inbuilt serif fonts. But when installing your own fonts became possible, I found I actually preferred serif fonts. My personal favorites are CharisSIL Modified Larger on Kindles, LexiaDama on Kobo and DejaVu Serif Eink on Nook. I also like Bitter and Literata Book, although I rarely use them (I'm just too lazy to constantly adjust the font).

Font choice is really very subjective, as has been said many times already. Find a font you like, share your preference with others (I found all my favorites thanks to our wonderful MR members), but don't feel you have to use something because someone else likes it or advertises it's the best font ever created. It isn't.

[Apache]

Unless the font is unreadable and throws me out of the book I read on the default font.
Apache

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Apache

Unless the font is unreadable and throws me out of the book I read on the default font.
Apache

Yep. Same here. I only know the names of a handful of fonts. I'm very happy to be font agnostic. Caring about them seems like a nightmare to me--a deep, dark rabbit-hole I refuse to let my OCD start down. My eyes tend to glaze over when people start mentioning words like serifs, sans, kerning, ascenders, etc... . THAT'S pure "cognitive noise" to me. Font-size and line-spacing are what I concern myself with.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I noticed that Lexend has a simple 'a' and 'g' - the type with a simple round part, like a simple child's print. Futura is the most obvious one which comes to mind, although there are many others.

Andika New Basic (I don't like the slant on the 'a'.)
Caudex (a little disconnected.)
Glacial Indifference

You might find some useful fonts on this thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=320073

I am a big fan of Caudex.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Apache

Unless the font is unreadable and throws me out of the book I read on the default font.
Apache

That's supposing the book has a default font. None of my books do. I'll remove those immediately. Most of them aren't usable on eink, so they're pointless for me.

[Apache]

I use either Freda+ or the Calibre Viewer to read on. So whatever font comes up I use, unless it throws me out of the book.
Apache

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That's supposing the book has a default font. None of my books do. I'll remove those immediately. Most of them aren't usable on eink, so they're pointless for me.

I agree that most fonts embedded are not suitable for eInk. So I do strip them out.

[droopy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I agree that most fonts embedded are not suitable for eInk. So I do strip them out.

How do you strip an e-book of its embedded fonts? And what fonts are not suitable for e-ink?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by droopy

How do you strip an e-book of its embedded fonts? And what fonts are not suitable for e-ink?

Calibre has plugins that will remove them (cleanly). Brute force: Unpack the book and delete the fonts, then repack and hope the device can fall back to something tolerable

IMHO any really fine or light grey font is a poor e-ink choice

[droopy]

Can you give some examples of fine or light-grey fonts?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by theducks

Calibre has plugins that will remove them (cleanly). Brute force: Unpack the book and delete the fonts, then repack and hope the device can fall back to something tolerable

IMHO any really fine or light grey font is a poor e-ink choice

Personally, I don't delete all the fonts, but only the body font. I leave the fonts in headlines etc. in place.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by droopy

How do you strip an e-book of its embedded fonts? And what fonts are not suitable for e-ink?

I use the Calibre editor. Others use Sigil. Still others use the Modify Epub plugin or strip the fonts during conversion.

[kacir]

For me personally, at this moment, for reading on an e-ink display, the most readable font is Roboto. It was developed for (and paid for by) Google. It was specifically designed for reading on small displays with low resolution - a typical Android device.
You can download it legally and for free at https://fonts.google.com/

The best feature of the font in my eyes is that it is extremely neutral. If you look at a screenful of text, nothing jumps out, nothing distracts. The font disappears and you absorb the text with as few distractions as possible. When reading a book I do not want to appreciate how well the font is made, how elegant it is. I have tried many, many fonts over the years and I have stuck with Roboto for the last 5 years or so. From time to time I have a look at what is new, what fonts are available, but I always very quickly return to Roboto.

But all that is just my perception of what is "the most readable font".
Go to the fonts.google.com site, download some fonts and start experimenting. It is fun, it is free.
For programming, for example I prefer to use appropriate font, such Source Code Pro from Adobe (that font creators at Adobe created for themselves when they write code).

A friend of mine can read with unbelievable speed. Like a thick novel under 2 hours with a good retention. Comparable retention to classmates who took weeks to read the book (that was decades ago while he was in school). He can read the entire line of text with one glance, so he just moves eyes in straight line from top to bottom of the page. There is a catch, of course ;-). It is difficult to concentrate like that for a long time and it is exhausting. So it is not suitable for leisure reading. There is another catch. The book has to be paper book with a proper typography in a serif font.

Some people say that the most readable fonts are those that were designed for highway signs, but I find those fonts distracting for long prose.

So ... how do you define the most readable font?
Is it the one that is least distracting?
Or is it the one that enables kids (very inexperienced readers) to read faster?
Or the one that is used for highway signs?
Or the one Adobe coders use for coding (that distinguishes between zero and capital O, between lowercase L and uppercase i and number one)?
Or the one that was developed after centuries of typography for books (typically serif fonts)?
Or the one that enables some people to read consistently 1000+ words per minute?
;-)

Go, look up a software for "Rapid Serial Visual Presentation" (there are several), select a font for displaying the text and crank the RSVP program up to maximum speed you can, while still comprehending text. Change font, repeat. See what font lets you read fastest.
For me, the maximum speed of 400wpm on Lexend page is too slow.

[droopy]

Originally Posted by kacir

For me personally, at this moment, for reading on an e-ink display, the most readable font is Roboto. It was developed for (and paid for by) Google. It was specifically designed for reading on small displays with low resolution - a typical Android device.

My device is a Kobo Forma. I don't think that qualifies as a "small display with low resolution", does it? I ask because I wonder if Roboto would be a good choice for my Kobo Forma.