OR
OR
UPDATE: THIS FILE LAST EDITED 1-2011
LOW-VISION
A PUBLICATION FROM THE...
SIGHT LOSS
INFORMATION
DETECTIVE
.....ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
SHOULD THE READER WANT TO SUGGEST ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS FOR THIS BULLETIN, PLEASE SEND YOUR IDEAS - GO TO LINK, SEND A MESSAGE, NEAR THE TOP OF THIS WEBPAGE.
NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS NOT INTENDED AS AN ENDORSEMENT OR RECOMMENDATION, AND IS PRESENTED SIMPLY AS A CONVENIENCE TO THE READER. BECAUSE OF THE CHANGING AVAILABILITY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, THE COMPLETENESS OF THIS LISTING IS NOT GUARANTEED.
THE TERM TRADITIONALLY USED FOR THE SPECIAL TEXT NEEDS OF LOW VISION READERS IS LARGE-PRINT, HOWEVER, THIS NAME IS ACTUALLY MISLEADING AND INCOMPLETE AND IT NEEDS UPGRADING.
LOW-VISION PRINT IS NOT JUST A MATTER OF SIZE BUT RATHER ONE OF QUALITY. IN FACT, THE CAREFUL PLANNING FOR TEXT APPEARANCE AND PAGE ARRANGEMENT ARE THE BUILDING-BLOCKS TO LOW-VISION-APPROVED COMMUNICATIONS.
THE FOLLOWING ARE PROVIDED AS A REMINDER CHECKLIST FOR CREATING OPTIMAL LEGIBILITY AND READABILITY.
SPECIFICALLY, THESE TEXT ELEMENTS CAN HELP A LOW VISION READER NAVIGATE A DOCUMENT OR VIDEO DISPLAY, AS WELL AS OFTEN MAKING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING ABLE TO READ OR NOT.
1. TYPE SIZE
A. MINIMUM FOR LARGE-PRINT IS 14-POINT
B. 72 POINTS EQUALS ONE INCH
C. RECOMMEND 16 TO 18 POINT
2. TYPE STYLE
A. CHOOSE PLAIN OR BOLD TYPEFACE
B. CHOOSE SERIF OR NON-SERIF TYPEFACE
C. RECOMMEND OPEN-FEATURE & UNIFORM LINEWEIGHT TYPEFACE
D. RECOMMEND ALL-CAPS - UPPERCASE LETTERS ARE BETTER FORMED AND LOWERCASE LETTERS ARE SMALLER
3. TYPE SEPARATION
A. HORIZONTAL LETTER & WORD SPACING
B. VERTICAL LINE SPACING
C. WARNING - TIGHT SPACING IS DIFFICULT TO READ
4. COLOR OF TYPE & PAPER
A. POSITIVE IMAGE IS BLACK-ON-WHITE
B. NEGATIVE IMAGE IS WHITE-ON-BLACK
C. RECOMMEND WHITE-ON-BLACK FOR LOW GLARE
5. HARDCOPY RECOMMENDATIONS
A. HIGH PAPER BRIGHTNESS RATING FOR BEST CONTRAST
B. NON-SHINY PAPER FINISH FOR LOW GLARE
C. 300 DOTS-PER-INCH FOR MINIMUM CONTRAST
6. FORMAT RECOMMENDATIONS
A. LEAVE BLANK SPACE BEFORE QUESTION-MARKS (?) & EXCLAMATION-POINTS (!)
B. USE DOTTED LINE BETWEEN COLUMNS TO HELP THE EYE TRACK ADJACENT ITEMS
C. USE BLOCK PARAGRAPHS TO ELIMINATE READING GAPS
D. USE JUSTIFIED-TEXT FOR SMOOTH LEFT-RIGHT MARGINS TO ELIMINATE READING GAPS
E. USE A NUMBER, LETTER OR BULLET TO IDENTIFY QUICK-FIND ITEMS
F. USE OVER-SIZE TEXT FOR QUICK-FIND PAGE NUMBERS
G. USE CORNERS FOR QUICK-FIND PAGE NUMBERS
H. LEAVE BLANK SPACE AFTER DOLLAR-SIGN ($)
I. USE DASHES NOT SLASHES FOR DATES (EXAMPLE 1-1-2000)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION SEE THE FOLLOWING FILES:
FIRST, RELATED ONSITE INFORMATION LINKS...
3. POINT SIZES
PLUS, THESE OFFSITE RESOURCES...
1. LINK: FONTS REPORT #1
SITE: WWW DOT FREDS HEAD DOT INFO
SCROLL TO: HEADING - APHONT FOR LOW VISION READERS
2. LINK: FONTS REPORT #2
SITE: WWW DOT WEB AIM DOT ORG
SCROLL TO: HEADING - FONTS
- END OF TEXT