Font sizes?

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

David Neeley helpfully notes: <<I believe it is helpful in this  
discussion to realize that fonts vary widely in their readability at  
particular sizes, so all-encompassing rules related to "minimum font  
sizes" may not be very helpful.>>

That's true indeed. And for online information, it reminds us that to  
the extent this is possible, we should not hardwire typefaces and  
font sizes; leave it to readers to choose the parameters that are  
best for them. No one (type) size fits all, and we should never  
assume that it does.

For print, I'm increasingly finding that anything smaller than 10- 
point Times Roman (and equivalent x-heights for other fonts) is  
becoming difficult to read -- and I'm not exactly "aged" yet. <g>  
This suggests that if you don't know your audience well (i.e., if you  
can't confirm they're all young pups with perfect vision), it would  
be wise to choose a size of at least 11 point (again, Times Roman  
equivalent). That may be overkill for most readers, but it's a  
conservative approach that demonstrates concern for those with  
significant visual impairments.

<<Within fairly broad bounds, factors such as the font's x-height can  
make a huge difference.>>

Indeed, that's why I specified "Times Roman equivalent" above. <g>

<<In fact, when mixing two fonts on a page, it may be necessary to  
adjust point sizes to compensate for the differences in visual  
size... So far as I am aware, there is no formula to guide us in this  
matter--it is a judgment call, but one that is helpful to keep in  
mind when designing a page layout.>>

I'm not aware of any rule either, other than that many people prefer  
grid-based alignment when you're using multiple columns (i.e., so  
that lines of type line up horizontally). But it's certainly an  
important point that not all type sizes are created equal. Thanks for  
raising the point!


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