Serif or Sans Serif for readability?

[mjh215]

I had been doing experiments recently just to see what I prefered. Serif came out far ahead on eInk for me... It feels easier on my eyes. One of the major reasons why I held back making any more ebooks, I was reading them and not particularly caring for the ones I was making since they were sans but couldn't tie it down at first to a reason.

-MJ

[wayrad]

I too find a good serif font to be easier on the eyes during sustained reading. I've tried quite a few after running them through the PalmFiction font converter, but my current favorite is 14-pt Cambria, one of the new fonts that came with Vista. It's very legible (for me, anyway) at about 135 words per page on my 480 x 320-pixil screen (ca. 4" diagonal).

PS I found an interesting discussion of this topic at http://www.alexpoole.info/academic/l...urereview.html

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I think this also has to do with the Font... face it, some fonts are just crap. A good quality serif font can be very pleasing to read.

BOb

an important point.

Originally Posted by kacir

... and there is also a reason why most of the on-line content is presented using sans-serif fonts. Including Mobileread.

The vast majority of text that appears on screen is in sans-serif. With the possible exception of text inside Text Processors, or DTP programs. Sans serif is much more readable on a low resolution medium. And e-ink *is* low resolution medium and will remain low resolution medium until it doubles its dpi to at least 300.

let's have a look, once again at quote from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans_serif
---- quote ----
Sans-serif fonts have become the de facto standard for body text on-screen, especially online. This is partly because interlaced displays may show twittering on the fine details of the horizontal serifs. However, the resolution of digital displays in general can make fine details like serifs disappear or appear too large.
---- end of quote ----

Originally Posted by mjh215

I had been doing experiments recently just to see what I prefered. Serif came out far ahead on eInk for me... It feels easier on my eyes. One of the major reasons why I held back making any more ebooks, I was reading them and not particularly caring for the ones I was making since they were sans but couldn't tie it down at first to a reason.

-MJ

serif fonts (i'm speaking of good quality ones) are generally easier to read, because the individual letters have more distinctive details which allow the eye to recognise them easily without studying them too hard, which allow for a more fluid skimming movement when reading. to test this, looking at the image that kilofox posted :



take a sheet of paper and mask the bottom half of each word, so that only the top part of the letters are visible. it's much easier to identify the serif letters even if you can't see the whole letter, whereas the sans serif ones are less distinctive.

however, as kacir said, the low resolution of computer screens (screen res is only 72dpi) means that a serif font with a fine serif (like times new roman) can look busy and spiky and not at all attractive to read. sans serifs have therefore become the norm for onscreen text because they give a cleaner appearance at low resolutions.

this is a question where personal preference comes very much into play, although there are reasons other than personal preference that the majority of printed matter uses serif fonts for body text.

personally, i find the resolution of current e-ink screens good enough to support a serif font, and that is my preference. luckily with ebooks often you can choose whichever you like though.

if you are looking for some good quality free fonts, deja vu is a free open source font family available in serif and sans serif, with a very wide character set. The serif version is chunky enough to look good even on the relatively low res of a screen. i quite like them.

[pdurrant]

I currently have Fontin on my Cybook. A serif font with a large x-height. It looks very good an the eInk screen.

http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/fontin.html

Originally Posted by kilofox

I am curious what people like.

Myself... I like Sans Serif, but I think most books, if not all, that I have bought on Amazon for the Kindle have been Serif.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I currently have Fontin on my Cybook. A serif font with a large x-height. It looks very good an the eInk screen.

http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/fontin.html

thanks for the link ! that is a very nice font.