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Are You BLIND?! Regulating Accessibility in Print

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Are You BLIND?! Regulating Accessibility in Print Are you BLIND?! Regulating These notes sum up research and experience in designing paper documents for visually impaired people. Written in September 2001, they are based on recommendations from the Royal National Institute for the accessibility in print Blind, The Lighthouse Inc, other research and, where there is no better guide, our own taste and prejudice. Mark Barratt typography for visually impaired people typeface The choice of typeface is less important than contrast, type size, weight and the spacing of characters. Quirky, unusual, script and titling faces are obviously highly inappropriate for legible continuous text. There is no valid research to support the preference for a sans serif typeface (such as Arial or Helvetica) over a seriffed one (such as Times or Century). Seriffed faces are regarded as more ‘readable’ in continuous text for regular reading. This may equally apply to large print texts. type size 16pt Arial 16pt Perpetua For the partially sighted 9–12 pt type (or an average x-height of 2.5mm) is suggested as a minimum by RNIB. Sometimes 16pt may be needed by some The point size of a typeface is not the same as its apparent size visually impaired readers. These recommendations obviously depend upon the typeface and weight used. For the general reader type sizes between 8 and 10pt are frequently used. The RNIB aims to set all its texts for usual readers in 12pt. Remember that different types with the same ‘point size’ have different appearing sizes. The effective size of a typeface is actually related to the height of the lowercase x. type weight The tendency has been for setting text in bold because of its contrast on a white page. However, more recent findings suggest that a medium weight or semi-bold may be more legible. The RNIB’s ‘See it right’ was set in New Baskerville semi-bold. We suggest avoiding weights of fonts that appear very light. Aside from the weight of the stroke, the counters of letters are important – they should be open to help legibility. Text Matters 37 Upper Redlands Road italic Reading RG1 5JE United Kingdom Traditional italic type should clearly not be used for continuous text for any t: (+44) 0118 986 8313 group of readers. As a means of emphasising important words or phrases it f: (+44) 0118 908 0732 may be appropriate. This is particularly important if body text is in a semi- e: [email protected] bold; the use of bold for emphasis will not be enough. Titles of books etc. w: www.textmatters.com should be italicised as in text for general readers. ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Type shape Most fonts can be divided into two groups: • serif, which have pointed bits (serifs) like this line; and • sans serif, which are plain like this line. If serifs are too pronounced, they can be distracting. It is usually best to stick to sans serif fonts, like Arial or Helvetica. Computer software offers a wide choice of fonts. This tempts novice designers to use many different fonts in the same document. Don’t! Font size Font size is measured in units called ‘points’. Try to aim for a font size of 12 point. If you are pushed for space, you can go down to 10 point, but don’t go below that. The Royal National Institute for the Blind recommends a minimum font size of 14 point for readers who are likely to be blind or partially sighted. For headings, use a font size at least two points bigger than the body text. Avoid using block capital letters for emphasis – it makes words difficult to read, and looks as though YOU ARE SHOUTING. Stick to bold print for emphasis. Don’t underline. Avoid using italics as they can be difficult to read. Design and layout guide, Line length Plain English Campaign Line length can affect the ease and speed of your reading. Very long and very short lines force you to read more slowly. It is helpful to think of line length in terms of the number of characters in the line (including spaces). ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt A line of body text should normally contain 60 to 72 characters, or about 10 to 12 words Line spacing (leading) The technical term for line spacing is ‘leading’ (pronounced ‘ledding’). It is measured in the same units as the font size. Why Clear Print? Information is essential to all of us, to help us to make choices and to live our lives independently. By law, all organisations need to provide information in a way that everyone can read. A ’Clear Print’ document will find a wider audience including elderly people and many others with sight problems. Use for correspondence, books, magazines, flyers, forms, menus, programmes and like items held in the hand. Top tips for achieving Clear Print: • Document text size should be 12-14 pt, preferably 14 pt. • The font you choose should be clear, avoiding anything stylised • All body text should be left aligned [etc] Source: Nottingham Disability Forum ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Appeal following typeface and size rules of the US Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit, covering typeface, size and line length. ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt US Food & Drug Administration. Nutrition labelling requirements ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Um... Lots of questions already: What’s the problem? How big is it? Where do these prescriptions come from? Are they likely to solve the problem? If they are, is the solution worth the cost? Are there other ways to solve the problem? ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt What’s the problem? How big is it? ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Registered blind and partially-sighted in England, 2011 Partially sighted Blind Unregistered Clear print won’t help these people source: UK Department of Health ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt RNIB ‘sight problem not xed by glasses’ Uncorrectable sight problem Normal or correctible vision Larger print will help some of these people source: RNIB, unattributed ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Older people and sight problems Over 65 + sight problems Over 65 Under 65 Common problems include diabetes, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts sources: Office for National Statistics, RNIB (unattributed) ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Where do these prescriptions come from? ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt See it right, RNIB ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt 9pt hamburger hamburger 10pt hamburger hamburger 12pt hamburger hamburger 14pt hamburger hamburger x-heights, mm grid Arial, Garamond ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt See it right, RNIB 2mm x-height = 11pt Arial 2.3mm x-height = 13pt Arial ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Research bibliography (complete) See it right, RNIB ATypI September 2011 | Mark Barratt Testing: Ophthal. Physiol. Opt. 2006 26: 545–554 The effect of font and line width on reading continuous reading-aloud speed in people with mild to moderate vision loss Gary S. Rubin1,2, Mary Feely1, Sylvie Perera3, Katherin Ekstrom3 43 patients of eye clinics: mainly glaucoma and Elizabeth Williamson4 1Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, 11-43 Bath Street, London, EC1V 9EL, and mild cataracts 2Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, 3Royal National Institute of the Blind, London, and 4Medical Statistics Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK Abstract different fonts (abandoned) Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of print size, typeface, and line width on reading speed in readers with mild to moderate sight problems. Methods: A total of 43 patients, most of whom had mild cataract or glaucoma with acuity 6/30 or better (median age 72; range 24–88 years), read aloud a selection of texts presented randomly ¼ ¼ in four sizes (10, 12, 14 and 16 point), for each of four typefaces [Foundry Form Sans (FFS), result: faster reading from larger type Helvetica (HV), Tiresias PCfont (TPC), Times New Roman (TNR)] at a standard line width of 70 characters and a viewing distance of 40 cm. A subset of letter sizes and typefaces were tested at two additional line widths (35, 90). Results: As expected, reading speed increased with print size from a median of 144 words min)1 for )1 10-point text to 163 words min for 16-point text (repeated measures ANOVA, p < 0.0001). There was also a significant effect of typeface with TPC being read about 8 words min)1 faster, on average, extrapolated using data from previous than the other fonts (159 words min)1 for TPC vs 151 words min)1 for the other fonts, p < 0.0001). However fonts of the same nominal point size were not equivalent in actual size. When adjusted for population study to general population the actual horizontal and vertical space occupied, the advantage of TPC was eliminated. There was no effect of line width (p > 0.3). Data from the present study were extrapolated to the general population over age 65. This extrapolation indicated that increasing minimum print size from 10 points to 16 points would increase the proportion of the population able to read fluently (>85 words min)1) from 88.0% to 94.4%. Conclusion: This study shows that line width and typeface have little influence on reading speed in people with mild to moderate sight problems. Increasing the minimum recommended print size from 10 points to 14 or 16 points would significantly increase the proportion of the population able to read fluently. Keywords: fonts, large print, low vision, reading Blind (RNIB) and American Printing House for the Introduction Blind (APH) have developed guidelines (RNIB, 2001; Publishers and graphic designers frequently ask Ôwhat Kitchel, 2004) to improve legibility. Both the RNIB and font should I use for people with low vision?Õ Several APH recommend specific font sizes (12 points or larger organisations such as the Royal National Institute of the for RNIB; 18 points or larger for APH) and RNIB recommends a line width of 60–70 characters.
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