[OT] Re: [TxMt] site with textmate

[Michael T. Smith]

The jumping movement is known as a saccade. (I knew the cognitive  
neuroscience class would come in handy one day!)
On Jul 7, 2006, at 12:00 AM, Allan Odgaard wrote:

> On 6/7/2006, at 23:58, Ollivier Robert wrote:
>
>> [...] Typography generally advise on using serif fonts for plain  
>> text and sans
>> serif ones for headings.  It is less of an issue for online  
>> reading [...]
>
> Reading happens by “jumping” from place to place on the line (I  
> believe there is a technical term for these movements) and the eye  
> will fixate shortly on each location visited (sometimes a  
> regressing will happen.) I.e. it’s not one continuous motion from  
> left to right (as it feels like) but instead “snapshots” of  
> segments of the line.
>
> So my take on this is that the serifs are there as visual cues to  
> help the jumps happen faster (because of less cognitive overhead)  
> and/or help with orientation after each jump, as the serifs make  
> the line more explicit.
>
> For online reading the resolution tends to be too low for the  
> serifs to do their job, and instead they introduce noise [1] making  
> the reading process harder instead of easier -- for larger text  
> this is not the case, but for that the serifs are not useful (so it  
> doesn’t matter what you choose here.)
>
> So I’d say the serif/sans serif advice for text/heading in  
> typography should be reversed for online reading -- the advice  
> (about making them distinct) is btw for aesthetic reasons, as we  
> (people) like contrast, and mixing serif/sans serif gives that  
> clear contrast as opposed to e.g. using another serif font for  
> headings, which would often just give a feel of “there is something  
> wrong with the type when used in the headings” instead of making  
> the headings (more) visually distinct.
>
> I know however that there are actually people who like serif fonts  
> for online reading, so I guess it does to some degree boil down to  
> personal preference.
>
> As for Comic Sans: in addition to not be crafted for optimal  
> reading efficiency (but instead for comic bubbles) “serious  
> people” (like myself :) ) generally associate it with amateurish  
> content, since it’s often the first choice when someone needs to  
> make an invitation or similar look more personal -- so on that  
> ground alone I would stay the hell away from this type ;)
>
>
>
> [1] There are some semi-serif fonts specially crafted for online  
> reading which are generally good. The problem is really using types  
> created for print on a monitor, and most of those classic serif  
> fonts are made for print.
>
>
>
>
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