Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

21 – Media Selection
learner, and reduce the reading speed. This sentence
with only three different fonts proves the point.
Practical Guideline
Use an easy-to-read system font and keep the font
constant.
Figure 21.2. Variations of justification
Choose a font that is clear and easily readable such as
Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. Although some
people may call these fonts “boring” or “unattractive”,
readability is critical for online applications — especially
when students will read text for longer time periods.
Italic, serif, sans serif (non-serif), script, decorative, and
small fonts (see Figure 21.3) can be hard to read depending
on their size and the monitor’s clarity. Some
people prefer serif over sans serif fonts since the “feet” of
serif fonts helps the eye move horizontally. People tend
to read faster with serif fonts than with sans serif fonts.
Regardless of what font you use, it is impossible to
please everybody.
You can use font sizes to organize information, such
as in headings, and to indicate importance. Headings
should be in upper and lower case letters as uppercase
text is less legible. Headings can also help learners
quickly find pertinent information, especially when the
headings make sense on their own. You can use a
slighter smaller font size for labels.
Use larger font sizes for children and seniors. For
other audiences, the font size used should not allow for
more than 60 characters on a 6-inch (15 cm) line. This
helps increase readability, decrease fatigue, and maintain
a student’s patience and attention. As a proportional
guideline, use a 14-point bold Arial font for the main
text given an 800 by 600 screen size. This is only a starting
guideline since readability is affected by the screen
size and font used. If there is any doubt, ask typical
learners for their opinion.
VARIABLE SPACING
Variable spacing (see Figure 21.4) reduces the space
between letters. This is especially noticed with the letters
“i” and “l”. Variable spacing allows you more characters
per line but is not as “neat” as fixed spacing (see figure
21.4) where all letters use the same amount of horizontal
space and consequently line up vertically.
Figure 21.4. Variable versus fixed spacing
Figure 21.3. Variations of fonts
Be sure that you keep the font constant. If a second
font must be used, choose one that appears similar to
the first. Too many fonts can be distracting, confuse the
For practical reasons, such as screen size limitations
and a faster reading speed, you should use fonts that
have variable spacing, such as Arial. Note that if the
letter spacing is too tight, the letters can be hard to distinguish
from each other. Spacing that is too wide can
326 Education for a Digital World