Google

"While legibility is determined by the characters in a typeface, readability refers to how easy it is to read words or blocks of text, which is affected by the style of a typeface."

Some properties that can affect readability: letter-spacing, line length, line height, paragraph spacing, type alignment and how figures are displayed (tabular or proportional).

Readability

"The uniform adjustment of the space between letters in a piece of text."

To improve readability: 
- For larger type sizes, such as headlines, use tighter letter-spacing 
- For smaller type sizes, looser letter spacing can increase letter contrast

Letter-spacing/ tracking

To improve readability:
- "use tabular figures (also known as monospaced numbers), rather than proportional digits, in tables or places where values may change often."

Tabular figures

For good readability:
- Body text: usually 40-60 characters (English).
- Longer lines on desktop: up to 120 characters and needs to increase the line height.
- Short lines: 20-40 characters.

Line length

"The amount of space between baselines in a block of text. A text’s line height is proportional to its type size."

Example: 
- Type size 14, Line-height 20dp (x1.43)
- Type size 20, Line-height 28dp (x1.4)

When the font size becomes bigger, the line height doesn't increase at the same rate, it tends to be smaller.

Line height/ leading

"Keep paragraph spacing in the range between .75x and 1.25x of the type size."

Paragraph spacing

Three types: left-aligned, right-aligned, centered.

- Left-aligned: the most common for left-to-right languages like English.
- Right-aligned: the most common for right-to-left languages like Arabic and Hebrew.
- Centered: Pull quotes, elements to distinguish; not suitable for long notes.

Type alignment

For the task of text simplification, various prompt templates can be used, often in an ensemble. These templates provide direct instructions to a model, such as 'Make this text simpler,' 'Condense and simplify this text,' and 'Rewrite for easy reading.'

Examples of Prompt Templates for Text Simplification

A junior designer has created the following layout for the main body of a new company blog. Based on principles of good text presentation, critique the design's effectiveness for a reader. In your critique, identify at least two specific properties of the text arrangement that are problematic and explain why each one makes the text difficult to read.

Critique of a Text Layout

A web designer has received feedback that the main article text on their new blog is difficult to read. The text is set in a single, wide column that spans the full width of a desktop screen. The lines of text are very close together vertically, and the paragraphs are not separated by any extra space. Which of the following adjustments would be the most effective first step to improve the text's readability?

A user experience designer is reviewing a new website design and has identified several issues that make the text difficult to read. Match each observed readability problem with the most likely typographic property that needs adjustment.

Learn Before

Related