Questions about look and feel

[Dennis Brunnenmeyer]

May I suggest that the native resolution of the reader's display 
device, the graphic card resolution setting, the display brightness 
and other user settings or choices regarding their CRT or LCD display 
has at least as much to do with the legibility, reader comfort and 
reader retention when reading on-screen text as does the use of serif 
or sans-serif fonts.

Unfortunately, the wide range of display variables cannot be 
controlled by the document publisher.

Another factor detracting from the usability of documents (the "feel" 
part of look and feel) is the overuse of cross-references that 
require a reader to jump back and forth too many times in order to 
assimilate a train of thought that ought to be presented in a linear 
fashion. Just because you can do it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Cedar Ridge Systems
******************************************************************************
  At 11:33 AM 5/12/2008, Dan.Gallagher at ametek.com wrote:
>It seems that the resolution on paper (no pixels) would be crisper than on
>screen. So to me the serif fonts would be too cluttery on screen.
>Cheers,
>Dan--Ft. Lauderdale
>
>
>
>Kelly, this is the best description I've seen so far on why serif fonts
>might be easier to read on the printed page.
>
>It doesn't seem to address, though, why serif fonts might NOT be ideal
>on the screen.  I suspect that the simpler forms are easier to read in
>the constant light emitted from an electronic display, but that isn't
>stated precisely...
>
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Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Director of Engineering
CEDAR RIDGE SYSTEMS
15019 Rattlesnake Road
Grass Valley, CA 95945-8710
Office: (530) 477-9015
Fax:  (530) 477-9085
Mobile: (530) 320-9025
eMail:  dennisb /at/ chronometrics /dot/ com