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Link to original content: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053278
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Exploring the effect of layout on reading from screen

  • Part II: Common RIDT'98 and EP'98 Session
  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Electronic Publishing, Artistic Imaging, and Digital Typography (RIDT 1998)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1375))

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Abstract

This paper briefly examines the nature of information available to people designing for the screen and proposes that applied research into factors that affect the legibility of text on screen is required. Comparisons of reading from paper and screen do not identify the optimal typographic conditions for reading from screen, and it may be more fruitful to abandon such comparisons. A series of experiments that investigate the effect of typographic layout on reading from screen are summarised. The description aims to be accessible to practitioners and therefore to provide a basis for informed design decisions. The inappropriateness of formulating simple guidelines is illustrated by the results of these experiments. Peoples' subjective views of what are the easiest layouts to read are not those read fastest.

This research was supported with a grant from Microsoft Corporation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, The University of Reading, 2 Earley Gate, RG6 6AU, Whiteknights, Reading, England

    Mary C Dyson & Gary J Kipping

Authors
  1. Mary C Dyson
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  2. Gary J Kipping
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Editor information

Roger D. Hersch Jacques André Heather Brown

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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Dyson, M.C., Kipping, G.J. (1998). Exploring the effect of layout on reading from screen. In: Hersch, R.D., André, J., Brown, H. (eds) Electronic Publishing, Artistic Imaging, and Digital Typography. RIDT 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1375. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053278

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0053278

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64298-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69718-3

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