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Re: Accessible Google Fonts

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From: chagnon
Date: Apr 12, 2018 10:23AM

The "font fairy" chiming in...
Here are some good opensource Unicode fonts to consider if you need the little hook on the lower case L in the sans serif versions.

Montserrat is an excellent sans serif font with multiple weights to accommodate a myriad of design and publishing needs. It has a slightly wide, circular design with a large x-height, which makes the letters very legible. However, the downside is that you'll get fewer characters on a page. Has 598 glyphs to accommodate most publishing needs, but you'll be missing some special characters for STEM. Possible use Noto Symbols to fill in those STEM symbols.

Montserrat has excellent numbers: very clear, numeral 1 has a little hook at the top, and they produce very legible, readable, clear numbers in tables, formulae, and other STEM material.

Raleway is another excellent choice with multiple weights. Very clean appearance that's just a tad more flourised than Montserrat but still very legible and readable. Has 598 glyphs to accommodate most publishing needs, but you'll be missing some special characters for STEM.

However, Raleway has a typographic feature that bugs me: it uses old style figures, a typographic term that refers to how numbers are placed when typeset. In this case, some numbers have their ascenders sticking up above the x-height, others have descenders sticking below the baseline. The end result is that a series of numbers, such as those in a table or STEM textbook, will have a very cluttered appearance.

I don't recommend it for academia where a significant number of people have reading disabilities and dyslexias. I personally wouldn't want to read a math textbook in Raleway.

You can find more opensource Unicode fonts at https://fonts.google.com/ (note that there isn't a www preceding the URL address).

You're wise to choose opensource fonts because they are 1) Unicode by default, so they meet accessibility requirements, and 2) usually free to use in any type of published material, including PDFs, EPUBs, and websites.

But do check the end user license agreement (EULA) to ensure you do not violate anyone's copyright. Some opensource fonts aren't quite so "open" as others.

FYI, the traditional font industry is moving to "rented fonts" and the big names like Adobe, Monotype, Linotype, Font House, etc. are pricing fonts on how you'll use them. You could be charged thousands of dollars per year for embedding one of their fonts into a PDF that gets a lot of hits on a website.

The industry buzzword is that they are "monetizing" their intellectual property. Just say "no" to Adobe TypeKit and go opensource instead.

And don't forget to check the EULA on every font you want to use.

—Bevi Chagnon
Former typesetter, typographer, and designer

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