Serifs and their influence on font legibility

摘要

Serifs have been attached to alphabet letters since Roman times. As of late, their effect onreading legibility has become a source of contention. The purpose of this study was to find whichwas more legible, words in serif font or words in sans serif font. Legibility was defined as thedistance at which a printed word was just clearly recognizable. Two fonts of a similar strokewidth were compared, one font sans serif (Arial Unicode MS) and the other with serifs(Georgia), in 10 participants. These fonts were compared in two visual acuity conditions, 20/20(normal vision) and 20/40 (low vision). There was a significant difference in legibility, with thesans serif font being found to be more legible.