if you are under 30 years old and picking a font size for something other people need to read, not just yourself: that’s too small. still too small. A LITTLE BIGGER

#accessibility #ux #typography

@0xabad1dea my wife's uni course has a hard lower limit of 9pt for all work, including image captions, and if you go smaller those parts are voided and will not be marked. effective!
@gsuberland @0xabad1dea honestly (outside research summary posters), I'd say 12 hard minimum, ideally 14.
And I'm comparing TNR or Verdana or something, since font families vary glyph sizes.
@MxVerda @0xabad1dea the main reason it's set low is that it gives folks leeway with figure labelling done in external software required by the course (which can't always have its font size adjusted). by the time you've resized the image to fit in A4 you often end up right on the limit of 9pt.
@gsuberland   wtf kind of janky shitware can't -- wait, no. Do I want to know? Is this cursèd knowledge I will ache to rescind? @0xabad1dea
@MxVerda @0xabad1dea astronomy and spectroscopy software. it's the intersection of physicists, academics, and 90s open source devs, none of which have the slightest clue how to design a usable a UI.
@gsuberland @0xabad1dea oh noooooo. Idk the exact stuff (I was more into particle physics and cosmology in abstract, not astro), but that sucks.
... I could find the code maintainers and write them a strongly worded letter?
I expect they wouldn't want a rando submitting bug reports and user testing, but I can always offer.
(I have done bug testing before, and was apparently quite thorough. The lead software dude loved it. The business managers Did Not.)
@MxVerda @0xabad1dea at least one of the offenders hasn't had a commit since 2006 so I think it might be a lost cause lol
@MxVerda @gsuberland @0xabad1dea
Physics is the discipline that thinks it's ok to do serious public presentations using comic sans.
@jannem Use whatever font soothes your heart. If comic sans is too visibly deviant for your propriety, consider https://www.brailleinstitute.org/freefont/ @gsuberland @0xabad1dea
Atkinson Hyperlegible Font - Braille Institute

Read easier with Atkinson Hyperlegible Font, crafted for low-vision readers. Download for free and enjoy clear letters and numbers on your computer!

Braille Institute