Note that there still have been no studies on its efficacy. At worst, it is a great font to avoid ambiguity between characters.
I see a lot of people discussing this font and mentioning OpenDyslexia.
I couldn’t find research on Atkinson Hyperlegible. It says it was recently this year, I also couldn’t find any research on effectuveness when I looked through the website. If I missed it I aplogize and would love to learn more if someone wants to take the time to link/copy the applicable info. My hope is since it’s a non-profit group focusing on helping those with vision problems it has been well developed tested for effectiveness. Certainly if someone wants to try for themselves please do. Before going all out though say converting large volumes of things or implementing for a classroom I think asking questions would be prudent.
Unfortunately OpenDyslexia does not actually help those with this learn disability! The authors of the below article do a good job of discussing why and the harm misconception/misuse of products like these can create.
Wery JJ, Diliberto JA. The effect of a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, on reading rate and accuracy. Ann Dyslexia. 2017 Jul;67(2):114-127. doi: 10.1007/s11881-016-0127-1. Epub 2016 Mar 18. PMID: 26993270; PMCID: PMC5629233. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5629233/
Here is some more info and strategies for those instered in regards to dyslexia. https://childmind.org/article/understanding-dyslexia/
Thank you so much for taking the time to research and share you findings.
As to Atkinson Hyperlegible, I suppose its merit could be, at most, making it harder to confuse characters such as B8, O0, or 1Iil.
Beyond these benefits (and as you mentioned), there is just not enough information on whether Atkinson Hyperlegible definitely helps or not.
Also, thanks for the link on dyslexia. I suppose that, to an extent, promoting fonts like Open Dyslexia could lead to the unintended consequences described in the article.
This is nowhere near as good as the Open Dyslexic font. It looks weird, and I’m not dyslexic, but damn it makes me able to read so much faster!
I find it ironic that their website has extremely low contrasting colors making it very hard to read.
(Look at the top left for the worst example)
Yeah it’s almost impossible to read
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This looks like the font used on shroom tshirts
I actually changed my Anki to OpenDyslexic a couple of months ago! I changed it again when Atkinson Hyperlegible Next came out, but I agree that OpenDyslexic makes reading a breeze.
My only grievance with OpenDyslexic is that I don’t think I could send reports with this font without pushback. On the other hand, I have sent multiple reports using Atkinson Hyperlegible and nobody has ever said a thing.
I wish there was an open font that tries to do the same thing, but with an aesthetic that wasn’t reminiscent of comic sans.
You’re looking at it, the one linked In the op lmao
But comic sans is funny
I wonder how it works. Maybe it has to do with the intentional varying of the sizes of holes in letters, and the lopsided lines so one can’t be confused as another.
While dyslexia is actually a cluster of related issues, a common one seems to be with dimensionality. Basically, the reader’s brain assumes the objects are 3 dimensional. When the eyes make micro adjustments, the letters don’t rotate, since they are 2D. The brain misinterprets this as them rotating, or moving. This is perceived as them flickering or moving, in the corner of your eye.
There are several ways to break this effect. I suspect the shape is intended to mess with and slightly overload the depth sense. Strong colours can also disrupt it. E.g. via a coloured filter or glasses.
Just to note, my knowledge/research on this was 20 years ago, so might be outdated now. The coloured filters (actually tinted reading glasses) did help a relative overcome dyslexia however.
It’s also aesthetically pleasant which is a big plus.
Not for readability it isn’t
There is a balance to be had. Comic sans is great for readability for as much shit as it gets but it is ugly in most contexts so having something that is balanced to look good and still be more legible is a good thing.
I think this actually has a negative effect for me. It’s like every character is now screaming for my attention, and my brain can’t read whole words and phrases. I have to process the letters first. Though it’s possible this could be more to do with the website’s rendering on mobile and default font size.
Do you struggle with monospace fonts too?
Not at all.
That’s interesting. I’d love to know if you have the same experience on a desktop and with different font sizes.
It’s fine for me on mobile, and I’m glad that the “I” has horizontal lines. So many scammers adopt fake usernames by using an “I” (capital “i”) instead of an “l” (lowercase “L”) and vice versa.
It doesn’t work for me either. Just reading the text on the page linked here was uncomfortable. It’s not like you describe though - for me it’s like there’s too much white space and there’s this mass of words almost floating around the page and it’s hard to keep track of where I’m up to. I am a bad/slow reader and all reading is like that for me - that font just seems to make it worse.
I think this font is meant for people with bad eyesight. The website doesn’t make any claims about trouble reading for other reasons.
I’ve always read very fast with no problems but now I’m old and can’t see small print as easily. This font actually was much more comfortable for me to read without my glasses, which I guess is nice for me but no use at all for you.
How do you feel about comic sans and the open dyslexia font some other comments on this page are talking about with positive and negative comments? Do those make any difference at all to you?
Its beyond free for use, its OFL.
Only Fans Literature?
Ordinarily Frisky Lingo
Open font license
Coolness! I like the bionic font, but it’s more “just for me” than anything. This looks like a great default.
Well i was just mentioning bionic, but the link goes to the OP’s subject
When I read your comment, the post already had a link. I guess they added after reading your comment.
I dont get how thst don’t works. Surly it can’t know the word in advance and auto bold the first three letters?
I tried to get it working on Kobo and it dosnt seem to. Perhaps it was me though.
Could be very advanced use of ligatures
The bionic font? Good point, I don’t know how it “knows.”
I really like the Roboto Mono Nerd Font
I have been using this font as the default font on my personal laptop and I am more than happy with the way it looks and reads.
A couple of years ago I tried using the original Atkinson Hyperlegible (the one published a couple of years ago, before “Next”) on GNOME and my settings didn’t quite work. I had scaling at around 100% and increased the font size a little bit because I was having a hard time reading the font (the irony!). You inspired me to try again, but now with Atkinson Hyperlegible Next!
The original Atkinson Hyperlegible (without Next) is available by default on some Kobo e-readers. I use it for a few months now and I find that indeed it helps reading at night (or without my glasses because it’s nice to remove them from time to time).
can’t wait for this to be in distros by default.
I use this font for any document I type up, if it’s to be consumed by anyone else but myself.
I have been using this font on my eBook Reader for years. It’s great. Highly recommended - it might look a little bit goofy at the first glance, but it really is more readable.
Just installed it on my kobo and it’s fantastic.
I just added this to my eReader. I’ve been reading g a lot lately and while I haven’t had any difficulty, I’m eager to see if it enhances comprehension.
Good post OP.
If you havent tried it yet I really enjoy vollkorn.
I’m glad you found it useful.
If you’re experimenting with fonts to see how they change comprehension, you could try Open Dyslexic too! It looks quite ugly, but it makes reading easier to me and another commenter on this thread. I suppose it’s a matter of testing what works best for you.
Thank you for that suggest. I had taken a peek at it a while ago and it’s too “wobbly” for me.
As someone that has pretty decent vision, I enjoyed reading this font very much. Imma have to download it just because it’s pleasant to read.
It feels like Arial but with serifs.
