Seeking the next most readable font after Lexend

[mathil]

I have tried many fonts but I keep going back to Literata Book. I like reading at small/very small font sizes and line height, with those fonts that simulate a 'newspaper' look - serif fonts that tend to be rounder and don't extend much above or below the line (I'm sure there's a more specific term for this). Literata Book right now is my favourite, and I'm kinda miffed that it doesn't seem to have been updated along with Literata, unless I've been searching in the wrong places. I also like Bookerly and Bitter. If anyone has any suggestion for similar fonts it would be extremely welcome.

[tourneur]

Originally Posted by mathil

I have tried many fonts but I keep going back to Literata Book. I like reading at small/very small font sizes and line height, with those fonts that simulate a 'newspaper' look - serif fonts that tend to be rounder and don't extend much above or below the line (I'm sure there's a more specific term for this). Literata Book right now is my favourite, and I'm kinda miffed that it doesn't seem to have been updated along with Literata, unless I've been searching in the wrong places. I also like Bookerly and Bitter. If anyone has any suggestion for similar fonts it would be extremely welcome.

Literata Book is also my favorite font. Like you I find it very readable at smaller font sizes.

[MarjaE]

Originally Posted by droopy

Based on what I've read about the Lexend font, it is a most readable font.

The linked website has animation and has scrolling issues.

I have a strobe sensitivity and visual motion sensitivity, so for me, these can screw with my eyesight and trigger migraines. I also have an astigmatism, and even with strong glasses, most fonts tend to fade to gray blurs.

Checking on an extra browser, without my usual font settings, the Lexend site leads to double vision rather than the usual blurry vision. Not an improvement.

I used to use OpenDyslexic, but switched due to limited script support. I now use Andika for Roman and Cyrillic and Skeirs for Gothic. I force my browser to use these, and wish I could force my Kindles and reading software to do the same.

Some people use Comic Sans for slightly different visual issues. The unevenness makes the letters a little more distinctive.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mathil

I have tried many fonts but I keep going back to Literata Book. I like reading at small/very small font sizes and line height, with those fonts that simulate a 'newspaper' look - serif fonts that tend to be rounder and don't extend much above or below the line (I'm sure there's a more specific term for this). Literata Book right now is my favourite, and I'm kinda miffed that it doesn't seem to have been updated along with Literata, unless I've been searching in the wrong places. I also like Bookerly and Bitter. If anyone has any suggestion for similar fonts it would be extremely welcome.

ChareInk would work best for getting you a smaller line height when using your Kindle to read with.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I had created a larger version of Charis SIL some time ago. But I decided to start over and created ChareInk. Download ChareInk and put it in your Kindle's fonts directory. If there is a version of ChareInk or any other Charis SIL fonts, remove them first. Then rebook the Kindle and try again. ChareInk should not be too large.

Yes, it must have been the Charis SIL. I'll try the ChareInk. Would you mind including a link to it please?

At the moment I'm mostly using slab serifs such as DeVu Serif E-Ink. I like the 'old' look of it, especially for anything a little creepy.

[mathil]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ChareInk would work best for getting you a smaller line height when using your Kindle to read with.

I also have ChareInk installed on my Kobo, thanks Jon It's another font that looks very good at small font sizes, even though I prefer Literata because it's more compact. By the way, when I mean 'small size' I mean something that is much smaller than the Kindle's smallest setting (and its lack of formatting options is probably the main reason I wouldn't be able to switch).
Here are some photos of my Libra H2O with my preferred settings, using different fonts (Literata Book, Bitter, ChareInk, Sirba in this order). Sorry for the bad quality & blurriness.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BookCat

Yes, it must have been the Charis SIL. I'll try the ChareInk. Would you mind including a link to it please?

At the moment I'm mostly using slab serifs such as DeVu Serif E-Ink. I like the 'old' look of it, especially for anything a little creepy.

Here you go. Here's the link to ChareInk.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=184056

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mathil

I also have ChareInk installed on my Kobo, thanks Jon It's another font that looks very good at small font sizes, even though I prefer Literata because it's more compact. By the way, when I mean 'small size' I mean something that is much smaller than the Kindle's smallest setting (and its lack of formatting options is probably the main reason I wouldn't be able to switch).
Here are some photos of my Libra H2O with my preferred settings, using different fonts (Literata Book, Bitter, ChareInk, Sirba in this order). Sorry for the bad quality & blurriness.

Another way to sometimes get more text per screen is to install the better hyphenation dictionary that I posted. It give more hyphens then the default English hyphenation dictionary does.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=252405

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by mathil

I also have ChareInk installed on my Kobo, thanks Jon It's another font that looks very good at small font sizes, even though I prefer Literata because it's more compact. By the way, when I mean 'small size' I mean something that is much smaller than the Kindle's smallest setting (and its lack of formatting options is probably the main reason I wouldn't be able to switch).
Here are some photos of my Libra H2O with my preferred settings, using different fonts (Literata Book, Bitter, ChareInk, Sirba in this order). Sorry for the bad quality & blurriness.

Ouch! My eyes started to hurt looking at your pictures.
Here's mine.

[mathil]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Ouch! My eyes started to hurt looking at your pictures.
Here's mine.

I know, it is quite small Thing is that I'm very shortsighted and I like reading in bed without glasses, so I need to keep the font small (I keep the reader very, very close to my face). It's much easier now that there are 300ppi screens - font sharpness at that size is still very good.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by mathil

I also have ChareInk installed on my Kobo, thanks Jon It's another font that looks very good at small font sizes, even though I prefer Literata because it's more compact. By the way, when I mean 'small size' I mean something that is much smaller than the Kindle's smallest setting (and its lack of formatting options is probably the main reason I wouldn't be able to switch).
Here are some photos of my Libra H2O with my preferred settings, using different fonts (Literata Book, Bitter, ChareInk, Sirba in this order). Sorry for the bad quality & blurriness.

Wow! You must have visual Superpowers!

[Solitaire1]

Although this doesn't involve an e-book reader it is related. I recently purchased my first smart phone (from Samsung) and soon found that I didn't care for any of the default typefaces that came with it (one looked a little like Helvetica, another like a Bold Helvetica, and the others looked like a handwritten typeface which bore a slight similarity to Comic Sans), especially when doing text messaging. Also, it uses the selected typeface throughout the smart phone's displays.

In the end, I decided to purchase some typefaces for my phone and came upon ITCAmericanType which looks a bit like a proportional-spaced Courier New. I found it a major improvement due to it being very readable, and it made using my phone much more enjoyable.

Returning to the topic of e-books, for the main text of an e-book I prefer a serif typeface (like Times New Roman), while I prefer a sans serif typeface (like Calibri) for other e-book elements (like chapter headings) when I can choose the typeface. But when if it's a purchased e-book I usually just take what options are available.

[radius]

I think most of the fonts for ereaders now are pretty good overall; good enough that there is no longer a huge difference between them. However, older or classic fonts (like Georgia, Garamond, or Palatino) don't tend to display as nicely even if they work well in print.

Bookerly (used in Kindles) is a good upgrade over Caecilia for me. My issue with it is that the x-height (the height of lower case characters; specifically the 'x') is maybe a bit high (good for legibility, but I think it is a little too high to be balanced) and the glyphs are maybe a touch too regular (good for not having dark and light spots across a page, but a little robotic and boring).

Literata (used by Google's Play Books) is also quite readable, but I find it's italic very unappealing and it also has a very tall x-height.

Apple's Iowan is soft and comfortable. It has some of the variation in stroke width and letter shapes that I miss in Bookerly, and has "normal" looking italics unlike Literata.

The Chareink mentioned upthread is serviceable but too heavy to my eye. I find it tiring and prefer the original Charis SIL. Charis does have the advantage of including a very complete set of glyphs, so "foreign" languages will display properly. There seems to be a majority on Mobileread that prefers heavy and dark font rendering; I guess this suits them.

Note that there is a difference between intelligibility at a quick glance, and long term reading comfort.

I've chosen all serifed fonts here. Back when screens were in the 85-120 dpi range I often found sans serif fonts more legible, but now that dpi has reached 300dpi and up I have switched over to serifed fonts as being the more comfortable read.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by radius

The Chareink mentioned upthread is serviceable but too heavy to my eye. I find it tiring and prefer the original Charis SIL. Charis does have the advantage of including a very complete set of glyphs, so "foreign" languages will display properly. There seems to be a majority on Mobileread that prefers heavy and dark font rendering; I guess this suits them.

Have you tried then unweighted ChaeInk that I've posted? It's the same weight as Charis SIL. So if you want to up the weight yourself using the Reader controls you can do so. Or just leave it as is. I'd like to know what ou think of ChareInk starting with the unweighted version.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by radius

The Chareink mentioned upthread is serviceable but too heavy to my eye. I find it tiring and prefer the original Charis SIL. Charis does have the advantage of including a very complete set of glyphs, so "foreign" languages will display properly. There seems to be a majority on Mobileread that prefers heavy and dark font rendering; I guess this suits them.

I like the heavier fonts on eInk where they are more easily readable. Too many fonts look good on a LCD display but look thin and light on an eInk screen.

Originally Posted by radius

Note that there is a difference between intelligibility at a quick glance, and long term reading comfort.

I've chosen all serifed fonts here. Back when screens were in the 85-120 dpi range I often found sans serif fonts more legible, but now that dpi has reached 300dpi and up I have switched over to serifed fonts as being the more comfortable read.

For the amount of reading I do, I want the long term reading comfort but I also want legibility.

As for serif vs. san serif? My personal choice is serif but I do know some people who swear they read "better" with sans serif fonts. The only issue is that they never seem to be able for formulate exactly what "better" is.