Question for dyslexia experts - is there one web font that you recommend for use?
I just learned this recently—apparently certain character shapes and weights are easier to read and process for people with dyslexia.
From my research, there are roughly a half dozen fonts that are supposed to be helpful.
Experts: Is there one dyslexia-suitable font in particular that you would recommend for use on web sites?
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13 Answers
IMO Ariel is the cleanest, most linear font.
Well my link is broken. :< (
@Tropical_Willie, did you post a link to your Google search and not to the article itself?
I’m no expert, but I would think that dyslexics would have a better time with a Roman font than sans serif because line weight and serifs help distinguish letters. Arial and Helvetica and other sans serif fonts tend to look much more uniform—a designer’s plus but not a reader’s. I can’t imagine trying to read a whole book in the font used on this page.
It’s a combination of sans serif and the spacing between the letters.
I read a bit about this awhile back when people were saying that hating comic sans was ableist. (I hate comic sans.)
Turns out that comic sans and Ariel are easier for many people with dyslexia. There was even a font created specifically for dyslexia. I forget the name.
And people did better with the dyslexia font. But when they made the spacing the same between that and Ariel, it was about the same.
What I have read about dyslexia fonts is that they might increase fluency (speed) but do not help with comprehension.
I hate Comic Sans too. My kids used to bring home school notices and assignments printed in Comic Sans all the time. It never occurred to me that it might help someone read, and I still don’t see how that’s possible.
It’s Arial, by the way.
Oops! Thanks for the correction.
@kruger_d Hmmm…that’s interesting. Now I’ve got to go read more about that.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a kid. I’m a slow reader as an adult, though I no longer mix up my letters, my reading speed still crashes to a halt when I come across words like thought, though, through, thorough. My brain doesn’t really sight read those words well and I often have to do a double take. It’s not the only example of course, but it gives you a sense of how that can slow down my “flow.”
I’ve tried dyslexic-specific fonts and they make my eyes want to bleed from their misshapen distortion of typographic beauty—crimes against geometry. Perhaps if I were learning to read for the first time, they would be more helpful. I prefer clean, sans serif fonts with slightly larger typefaces. Serfs add visual noise to the forms that the brain has to subconsciously filter out. My favorite font these days is Avenir: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenir_(typeface).
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