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Serif vs sans-serif

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From: Terry Thompson
Date: Jan 3, 2007 12:40PM


Hi All,

I know this is an old debate, but I thought I'd revisit it, and see if
anyone is aware of conclusive evidence that supports either serif or
sans-serif fonts for legibility and/or readability on the web.

There's an excellent literature review by Alex Poole that cites a large
number of studies which combined yield conflicting results. However there's
no specific mention in this article of users with visual impairments, so I'm
assuming all of the research Poole cites is based on samples of people with
"normal" vision. The Poole article is here:
http://www.alexpoole.info/academic/literaturereview.html

Is anyone aware of objective research that explores the question of which
font style works best for users with visual impairments?

Thanks!
Terry Thompson
Technology Specialist, DO-IT
University of Washington
<EMAIL REMOVED>
206/221-4168
http://www.washington.edu/doit