The use of fonts

Some fonts are easier to read than others.

To some people with a visual impairment or a learning disability such as dyslexia, some fonts can make it difficult for the reader to understand what is written.

around 15% of the population has dyslexia
around 1.5 million people in the UK have a learning disability
around 2 million people are living with some form of sight loss or vision deterioration

Text and dyslexia

To some people with dyslexia reading text can cause:

words or letters appearing to move around on the page
getting letters mixed up such as 'b' and 'd' or 'p' and 'q' because they are almost the same but mirrored
letter appearing to merge together like 'r' and 'n'

Imagine adding to this problem by adding a font that is also difficult to read.

Text and vision

Sight loss can make it difficult for some people to tell the difference between letter shapes which makes it very difficult to understand what is written.

Some tips for using fonts:

try and use fonts that are “sans serif”, that means they don't have decorative features or edges
use 'serif' fonts like Calibri, Century Gothic, Helvetica, Tahoma and Verdana
don't use too many different fonts in one go
don't use too many styles in one go such as bold, CAPITALS or italic
avoid animating or flashing text
try and use 11 point text or larger