(Complete reading was encouraged by asking users a few comprehension questions after they had finished reading each passage.) In contrast, study participants did read the entire texts in a linear fashion.
Thus, in real life, users only read 28% of the words on a webpage, or about 166 words. While navigating the Internet, users mostly scan pages for useful information, as opposed to reading all the text word-for-word. However, each user only read texts in 5 of these fonts during the main reading-effectiveness test. The texts were shown in 16 different fonts, with appropriate experimental controls for things like order effects.įonts included classic typefaces (Times, Helvetica, Garamond), typefaces designed for computer use (Calibri, Arial), and typefaces specifically designed for legibility (Noto Sans, Montserrat) no “wild” fonts (think ) were included. (This article is written at a 12th grade reading level, but it targets professionals, not the general public.) The test stimuli were at an approximate 8th grade reading level, which matches our recommendation for web content targeted at a broad consumer audience. The participants were asked to read several short passages of text each passage had 300–500 words (by comparison, this article contains 2,623 words and the average web page contains 593 words). Shaun Wallace from Adobe and colleagues conducted a reading-speed study with 352 participants.
A large new study of the best fonts for online reading is ultimately disappointing, because it doesn’t answer the most burning question: what font should you use for your website? But it still provides many intriguing findings, including the striking conclusion that there is no single answer to this question.
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