Writing Font Choice for the Visually Impaired

adtabb · Feb 16, 2011

I realize that when I submit something I will have to submit it in the invisible ink of Courier, Courier New, or whatever the place requires.

I was working in Courier new 12 point font bold. Taking off bold seemed easy enough to remember.

The last few days though, In Word 2007, even blown up to 190%, I just cannot really see the letters. They are so thin, they look like hairs on the screen.

Does anyone have any good font suggestions?

I am trying Arial Round MT Bold size 12 for today. I will save it back to Courier New Bold size 12 later on.

(Right now I have nearly 14,000 of hopefully 80,000 words so plenty of time to adjust it to submission guidelines.)

alleycat · Feb 16, 2011

Would it not help to temporarily use a larger font size?

Jamesaritchie · Feb 16, 2011

I use Courier Final Draft. It's much, much darker than Courier New, and you don't have to worry about removing the bold. I also set zoom to text width, which helps considerably.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 16, 2011

There are fonts designed just for the visually disabled.

You may Google for them, or if you really need help, PM me.

That said, don't worry about submission format until you are ready to submit.

I'd suggest using Georgia if you like serifs, and Helvetica if you don't. Use them in a large point size, say 18 or larger.

MJNL · Feb 16, 2011

I always work in a font I prefer, then change it to the font they prefer. Arial Black might be a good font for you.

RJK · Feb 16, 2011

Tahoma is a good font for reading text on screen. Times New Roman is also a font many agents will accept. It is much easier on the eyes, and uses less paper.

BradCarsten · Feb 16, 2011

try turning down the screen resolution- you probably have it a little high.

adtabb · Feb 18, 2011

Thanks everyone. I did find a font that is helping. It's odd, the letters look gigantic, and wide, yet they take up 10% less of the page than in Courier New. I couldn't believe I had lost ten pages just by saving it over!

Medievalist - if it gets worse, I may private message you. Thanks for offering.

Stitch · Feb 18, 2011

adtabb said:
It's odd, the letters look gigantic, and wide, yet they take up 10% less of the page than in Courier New. I couldn't believe I had lost ten pages just by saving it over!

Courier is a "monospaced" font, meaning every character is exactly the same width. "i" takes up the same space as "m". That's why your manuscript appears shorter with a "proportional" font, like Times. The text gets squished together.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 18, 2011

Times also is a particularly tight face; it was designed specifically for the NYT newspaper, in order to fit more text in fewer column inches. It has a short base and a compressed x-height, all in aid of saving paper costs.

Matera the Mad · Feb 19, 2011

I'm a Tahoma fan, myself. But if you must write in word, use the Draft View! Then you don't have to change fonts at all. Simply choose the most comfortable font to write in for Draft View and no matter what the doc actually uses as a printable font, you have your own comfy font. Also make sure it wraps lines to the window in Draft.

Also, size doesn't matter. You can zoom the font as big or small as you like. Use Ctrl + + or -, or Ctrl + mousewheel.

Giant Baby · Feb 19, 2011

American Printing House for the Blind has developed a font specifically for low vision users. It's called APHont, and you can download it by going here. You have to fill out some information about yourself first, but if memory serves, it's a free download.

My husband works in braille publishing, and his house also sells large print products. APHont is their standard font d/t it's clarity and ease of reading (unless a customer specifically requests a different font for a job).

ETA: adtabb, have you considered looking beyond the font? My husband can no longer work with font choices/enlargements, or with the computers disability settings, but he can still work visually on the computer by using a program called ZoomText. It magnifies considerably larger than anything built into the disability settings, and also changes contrast levels, etc. He's more comfortable with braille, but this program is by far the most comfortable way for him to read print now. Granted, we have a massive monitor to accomodate text size, but that's a pretty small expense these days.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 19, 2011

Giant Baby said:
American Printing House for the Blind has developed a font specifically for low vision users. It's called APHont, and you can download it by going here. You have to fill out some information about yourself first, but if memory serves, it's a free download.

This is one of the most readable fonts in terms of adjusting to various kinds of visual problems.

Matera the Mad · Feb 20, 2011

Another trick I use -- which I wish the damnfools at Microsloth whould catch on to in a sensible way -- is avoiding the hideous glare of black on white. A computer monitor, unlike paper, blasts your eyes with light; very tiring. I use a text editor rather than word to write, so it is easy for me to change the font color to white and the background to a dark slate gray. If Word's draft view allowed this kind of freedom, I might actually enjoy using it for writing. Unfortunately, to change colors, you have to make changes that affect the document file, not just the display, and it also defeats the purpose of the draft view -- try it and see. (Word 2007)

Eh, yeah, I'd like some cheese and crackers with that.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 21, 2011

Matera the Mad said:
Another trick I use -- which I wish the damnfools at Microsloth whould catch on to in a sensible way -- is avoiding the hideous glare of black on white. A computer monitor, unlike paper, blasts your eyes with light; very tiring. I use a text editor rather than word to write, so it is easy for me to change the font color to white and the background to a dark slate gray. If Word's draft view allowed this kind of freedom, I might actually enjoy using it for writing. Unfortunately, to change colors, you have to make changes that affect the document file, not just the display, and it also defeats the purpose of the draft view -- try it and see. (Word 2007)

Eh, yeah, I'd like some cheese and crackers with that.

I don't like black on white, either, but I never use draft view for writing, so I never noticed this about Word 2007. I like print view because what I see is what I get, and I use a black background with a green font. It's easy enough to change back when I'm actually ready to print or submit electronically.

But I use Q10 for first drafts, and I get the same black background and green font that I like with it, as well.

kuwisdelu · Feb 21, 2011

Does Windows have an inverse color function/shortcut?

On a Mac, hitting Cmd + Option + Shift + 8 will inverse the colors.

Useful for confusing people at Best Buy, but also easy on the eyes sometimes.

Matera the Mad · Feb 21, 2011

Unfortunately, no. Word used to have an ugly white-on-blue option, which was about -1 better than nothing. The best one can do is change Windows colors globally. I tried that once. It sucked; some programs just didn't work well with it. And it's a beyotch changing back and forth, no quickies.

Writing Font Choice for the Visually Impaired

adtabb

Quiet Normally, Loud when Provoked

alleycat

Still around

Jamesaritchie

Deleted member 42

MJNL

A Little Lost

RJK

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

BradCarsten

practical experience, FTW

adtabb

Quiet Normally, Loud when Provoked

Stitch

what happens on FB, stays on ... wait

Deleted member 42

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Giant Baby

Oh, the humanity.

Deleted member 42

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

Jamesaritchie

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint