[HN Gopher] Atkinson Hyperlegible Font
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       Atkinson Hyperlegible Font
        
       Author : fanf2
       Score  : 106 points
       Date   : 2024-09-15 20:42 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.brailleinstitute.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.brailleinstitute.org)
        
       | rcarmo wrote:
       | Not bad. Can't see if they have a fixed width version though.
        
         | jdknezek wrote:
         | I made a custom build[1] of Iosevka[2] that chooses glyph
         | variants based on Atkison Hyperlegible. I like it a lot and
         | over time prefer it to the other Iosevka stylistic sets.
         | 
         | [1]:
         | https://github.com/jdknezek/Iosevka/blob/jdk/scripts/hyperse...
         | 
         | [2]: https://typeof.net/Iosevka
        
           | lambdaba wrote:
           | Sounds very cool, could you upload a screenshot of it in
           | action?
        
             | jdknezek wrote:
             | Here is a screenshot of some sample text in VS Code on
             | Windows: https://imgur.com/7BZS3Pp
             | 
             | And here's an action shot: https://imgur.com/sudNqWM
        
               | lambdaba wrote:
               | looks great, thanks!
        
       | m463 wrote:
       | > Please enter your email address to begin downloading.
        
         | zamadatix wrote:
         | What's funny is on the same page they say it's on Google Fonts
         | and you don't need enter an email (or have an account) to grab
         | it from there
         | https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Atkinson+Hyperlegible
        
           | theandrewbailey wrote:
           | And from Google Fonts, it's licensed under the Open Font
           | License, not a unique one.
        
         | vntok wrote:
         | This sentence is indeed written on the linked page. What
         | exactly is it that you want to express?
        
         | t-3 wrote:
         | It's available as a package on all the linux and BSD distros
         | I'm running.
        
       | Heliodex wrote:
       | Pretty awesome font, I've found it pairs really well with other
       | readable fonts like Lexend too.
        
       | sb057 wrote:
       | While the characters are certainly distinctive, I find paragraphs
       | to actually be less legible than, say, Times New Roman.
        
         | alberth wrote:
         | > It improves legibility and readability
         | 
         | Agreed.
         | 
         | It seems to improve legibility. I'm not so sure it improve
         | readability.
         | 
         | Readability is largely influenced by the x-height (height of
         | lowercase letter), because your brain is trying to discern the
         | "shape" of a word - which allows you to read faster. Hence why
         | ALL CAPS is difficult to read because the word shape is the
         | same.
         | 
         | Atkinson appears to have a high x-height, which reduces
         | readability.
        
         | prewett wrote:
         | I think SIL's Andika font [1] is designed with similar goals,
         | although I think informed more by teaching reading. I didn't
         | see any large samples, but the font seems a little subtler.
         | Presumably, given the name, the Braille Institute's readers are
         | more visually impaired than SIL's, so for those us with less
         | impairment, maybe SIL's would be more readable?
         | 
         | OpenDyslexic [2] is another interesting font. I've heard that
         | asymmetry helps dyslexic readers, and (given a cursory glance)
         | they seem to have done a good job having asymmetry and style.
         | I've also heard that SIL's font is helpful for dyslexics, but
         | that was a while back and now they have multiple font styles,
         | so I'm not sure if the one above is the one or not.
         | 
         | I didn't realize this until I worked on some software for
         | dyslexic readers, but the normal computer font makes bdpq look
         | pretty much identical except for rotation. It has a minimalist
         | elegance, but for new/foreign readers, it's pretty subtle. I
         | remember learning Chinese and had to spend quite some time with
         | two characters, which differed only with one have a dot and one
         | a short vertical line at top (a dot looks pretty similar to a
         | vertical line at a cursory glance, as it is more inverted
         | teardrop shape than a circle). After that the western alphabet
         | looked a lot more uniform than I'd originally thought.
         | 
         | [1] https://software.sil.org/andika/andika-and-the-visually-
         | impa...
         | 
         | [2] https://opendyslexic.org/
        
       | jazzyjackson wrote:
       | See also the font designed for responsibility in Airbus cockpits
       | 
       | https://b612-font.com/
        
         | quesera wrote:
         | The header image on that site seems to show two font variants
         | (slashed-zero and non-slashed) in a single display. This
         | puzzles me!
        
           | aftbit wrote:
           | I see the slashed zero on the right, but I cannot find a way
           | to get that out of the Google font display. Perhaps the
           | slashed zero is actually a different font?
        
       | spidermonkey23 wrote:
       | It's a good one to add as a custom font on Kindle/ebook devices
        
       | RadiozRadioz wrote:
       | I did find it easy to read. But the font size on this website is
       | also larger than average (at least on my mobile phone), so that
       | is a variable that would have to be controlled first.
        
         | jsheard wrote:
         | It's on Google Fonts so you can use their type tester:
         | 
         | https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Atkinson+Hyperlegible/test...
        
       | amirmasoudabdol wrote:
       | Is there a monospaced version, or an inspired monospaced version
       | based on this available?
        
       | knowitnone wrote:
       | Hack font is pretty good and doesn't collect your email
       | https://github.com/source-foundry/Hack
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related. Others?
       | 
       |  _Atkinson Hyperlegible Font_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32799872 - Sept 2022 (234
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Atkinson Hyperlegible - a font by the Braille Institute
       | designed for legibility_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28010540 - July 2021 (1
       | comment)
       | 
       |  _Atkinson Hyperlegible Font_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26011945 - Feb 2021 (86
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Atkinson Hyperlegible Font_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25154417 - Nov 2020 (10
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Atkinson Hyperlegible Font_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24853550 - Oct 2020 (3
       | comments)
        
         | jay_kyburz wrote:
         | You know, this feature could be a little side bar on the top
         | right, or just as a header for every post. (I assume its semi
         | automated, but I would be happy to see it all the time)
        
       | omoikane wrote:
       | Atkinson Hyperlegible appears to slash their zeroes in the same
       | direction as backslash, unlike all other fonts I have used where
       | the slash in slashed zeroes have the same direction as a forward
       | slash. Not sure if this was a deliberate design choice.
       | 
       | https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Atkinson+Hyperlegible?prev...
       | 
       | https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Inconsolata?preview.text=0...
        
         | commodoreboxer wrote:
         | Thanks for pointing this out. It looked weird to me, but I
         | couldn't quite put my finger on why.
        
         | zinekeller wrote:
         | Probably since that it's intended for legibilty, it's to
         | differentiate 0 from O.
        
       | DiscourseFan wrote:
       | I understand if this is supposed to be better for dyslexics, but
       | the fact that the distinctions of the letters are so heavily
       | emphasized makes it harder to read, since I generally read entire
       | words at a time, not letters, and the individual letters are less
       | important than how they look together in a word or a sentence.
        
         | SSLy wrote:
         | consider https://www.oliviaking.com/inclusive-sans
        
         | marginalia_nu wrote:
         | Personally I find Comic Sans easiest to read, as dyslexic. I
         | even use a monospace version of the font for coding and in the
         | terminal.
        
       | burningChrome wrote:
       | I like this idea, but for most companies, they've already decided
       | on their fonts and many corporations already have strict
       | guidelines on what fonts to use and many are either variants of
       | popular fonts, or changed in some way that aligns with their
       | branding.
       | 
       | I still think its a good step forward.
        
       | hinkley wrote:
       | My go-to is Verdana based on previous empirical tests. It's
       | bigger at the same pt size compared to other fonts, but if you
       | size it down about 1/12th it is just as legible but at a higher
       | characters per inch, which is good for trying to squeeze text
       | into an interface, especially when that interface may be viewed
       | by a group on a projector or screen share.
       | 
       | I just tried to half-ass a similar test by editing the Google
       | Font explorer UI to put them next to each other. Atkinson beats
       | out Verdana for width, by about 4% (eyeballed and envelope math),
       | however it's also 1 pixel taller per line at that size. So it's a
       | more rectangular font. I'd have to think about how I'd want to
       | use it, if I care more about lines per page or characters per
       | column.
        
       | ghssds wrote:
       | Is there any peer-reviewed studies about this or are those claims
       | unsubstantiated?
        
         | barbegal wrote:
         | No studies at all, all the claims are anecdotal at best.
        
       | aftbit wrote:
       | I found it amusing that the end user license agreement is
       | available only as a PDF on Box. That's not exactly the most
       | accessible format but I got it downloaded. It appears to be a
       | relatively straightforward license, prohibiting commercial resale
       | of the font and its derivatives, but allowing it to be bundled
       | with commercially sold software.
       | 
       | https://braileinstitute.app.box.com/s/rin3vzegmcy7sil28yfqsl...
        
         | hlieberman wrote:
         | It's actually just the SIL font license, which is what
         | basically every open source font uses. They just removed the
         | preamble of it for some reason.
        
       | nemetroid wrote:
       | That's one ugly A, without any separation. The font looks nice in
       | general though.
        
       | 4ad wrote:
       | I appreciate the concept but damn it is ugly.
        
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       (page generated 2024-09-17 23:00 UTC)