Re: [gentoo-user] Fonts and bad eyes

[David Haller]

Hello,

On Sat, 17 May 2014, Dale wrote:
>I'm curious.  I'm sure there are some older folks on here that have eyes
>that are not in the best of shape.  Mine are not real good even with
>glasses.  My question is, what font is the easiest to read for folks
>with bad eyes?  In other words, for you folks who can't see good, what
>font do you use?

Even though I can see well with glasses on (I'm quite nearsighted,
R:-5.0dpt, L:-6.5dpt) and I'm not even 40 yet ... (Font-) Readbility
on- and off-screen is some sort of a hobby and of concern of mine.

On screen or on paper? On screen, I use misc-fixed (gnu-unifont?) and
Verdana almost exclusively except for Window-Titles and the WMaker
App-menu (where I use Helvetica i.e. apparently LiberationSans (I
thought it was the URW variant Nimbus Sans(?))) as it runs less wide.

Misc-fixed has wonderfully unambiguous letter shapes, Verdana is
pretty good in that respect too.

The Linux text-console font is also very good.

Adjust font-sizes to your ability (might get tedious), though
experimenting with the screen's "DPI" might be a shortcut. Be wary of
anti-aliasing and sub-pixel-hinting. Test both _after_ you've chosen a
good font without them, if they help, esp. when tweaking
non-screen-optimized layouts, activate them, if the do not, leave them
off.

Do NOT use normal serif-fonts for on-screen reading (like Times,
Garamond etc.). Nor normal sans-serif ones (like Arial). Use those
fonts optimized for the screen. If you need to set something in a
specific font for printing, use misc-fixed/verdana for the typing (and
use styles/formats in e.g. oowriter), and change the font as late as
possible for final layout tweaks only.

Oh, and _very_ importantly: get a _GOOD_ matt monitor if you haven't
yet. You don't need a glaring shaving mirror on your desk ;) Any
reflection, even a matt one, distracts and "hurts" the eye, and clear
reflections like from glaring panels like the Apple ones are esp.
exhausting.

I've had the chance to use three 17" TFT side-by-side in twos

a) an el-cheapo LG TN (yikes! I got headachey after ~30min)
b) an not-quite-cheapo Samsung Syncmaster TN (weeeelll, endurable for
   a few hours, lots better than the LG)
c) an about twice as expensive EIZO S1721 PVA. I use that without
   ever getting headachey for as much as 36h. current uptime is
   ~22h :)

Also: always adjust the brightness to ambient light! And adjust the
ambient light at night[1]!

And with non-matt panels, you may have to turn up the brightness way
too far to be comfortable, to still be able to see anything on screen.

I'm using that EIZO now since early Apr. 2010, and still 35%-40%
brightness suffices (as my window a bit right of the monitor is facing
north, but there's a light-yellow colored house with a bright white
picket fence, so depending, a _lot_ of light is reflected, so much so
that it is blinding even when I'm not at the PC. It's esp. bugging,
when there are quick changes on a, say, typical april day (mid-lats of
the northern Hemisphere), one minute, the (reflected) sun glares at
you, the next a dark cloud makes it seem like dusk. And no, the "light
sensor" sadly does not seem to work.

On paper, I very much prefer classic serif-fonts, esp. Garamond and I
like the TeX fonts (Computer Modern/Latin Modern) quite much.

-dnh

[1] usually, I have a lamp at the side, barely lighting the table,
    but when I'm watching videos, I move the lamp lower, so it's only
    lighting the floor/low wall and gives a low ambient light. Very
    nice when watching "darkish" videos. Nicer than turning up the
    monitor brightness (even if I turn that up to 45% or even a bit
    more ;)

-- 
Idiot, n.:
        A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human
affairs has always been dominant and controlling.
                -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"