The Math of Text Readability

An anonymous reader writes "Wired magazine has an article that explains The Law of Optical Volumes, a formula for spacing the letters on a printed page that results in maximum readability. Wired's new logo (did anyone notice?) obeys the law. Unfortunately, Web fonts don't allow custom kerning pairs, so you can't work the same magic online as in print. Could this be why some people still prefer newspapers and magazines to the Web?"

Comments

Volumes not areas?

[jakosc]

It's basically kerning pairs, but instead of just a few pairs, it's generalized to maintain the area between all combinations of letters:

The Law of Optical Volumes states that the area between any two letters in a word must be of equal measure throughout the word, and remain consistent throughout the body of text. So why 'Volumes', not 'Areas'?

If Scott were more of a geometry wonk, he'd have dubbed it the Law of Optical Areas rather than volumes, but that doesn't sound as imposing. Why stop there? A Law of Optical Hyperspace would be even better...

Re:Volumes not areas?

[paeanblack]

So why 'Volumes', not 'Areas'?

It looked better in print.

Re:Volumes not areas?

[OECD]

I'm just running an incredibly modern-futuristic computer here, but my computer arranges letter closer together and further apart depending on their shapes... is that different from 'kerning'?

Related, but more different than not.

There are monospaced fonts, where each letter takes up the same amount of space regardless of shape, so xxx and iii are the same width. Then there are proportional fonts, where the letters are as wide as the rectangle it takes to contain them, so xxx is much wider than iii. This is what you're thinking of.

Kerning takes it a step further. A proportional font that doesn't have some kind of hinting (and a program that can read/implement that) will still put too much space between the letters VA, while one that does will allow the V and A to 'invade' each other's rectangle. It can get quite complex with all the different glyphs (letterforms) that have to work with each other.

I'm mystified as to who would say computers can't do this, since I use them to do exactly that every day. It really has more to do with the fonts and applications (and possibly the OS) you are using.

Re:Volumes not areas?

[LBArrettAnderson]

AAAAAAAAAA
VVVVVVVVVV
VAVAVAVAVA

no it doesn't. It looks like it might when you just look at the two letters together... but it's just an illusion. (see above example).

Buy the magazine to see the kerning in action!

[Headcase88]

To see and appreciate the Law in action beyond our logo, you'll need to pick up a copy of the magazine.

Well I guess that would be more profitable than just offering a .gif sample.

Print vs Digital

[Reason58]

Could this be why some people still prefer newspapers and magazines to the Web? Intrusive ads, popup windows, flash animations and audio come to mind as reasons. Also the simple fact that many people like the freedom of being able to actually hold and move around the thing they are looking at. Kerning adjustments seem pretty low on the list of reasons IMHO.

Since when was WIRED interested in readability?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

The concept of WIRED magazine and its associated web site being interested in readability seems ludicrous.

Consider their track record of using tiny type, garish color schemes, and layouts that I find difficult to characterize, making it nearly impossible for anyone with any of a number of (even slight) impairments to their eyesight (including especially presbyopia - the lack of accommodation that accompanies middle age) to read their publications comfortably - or even at all.

I've often thought that this was done deliberately, to repell all but young readers, as part of targeting their circulation on the perceived avant-garde youth of gen-Y and beyond.

Now they're modifying their logo for readability. ORLY? Is their target demographic aging enough that this is now a problem? Are readers deserting them due to headaches just as they graduate into serious spending money? Or are they just playing around with another art/layout fad?

If they were really serious about readability I'd expect them to be modifying other aspects of their magazine and site layout. But TFA shows that is not happening. So I'll go with "fad".

Kerning is not an exact science

[Temeraire]

I have actually written software to kern text (for the sign-making industry) and can testify that kerning is not an exact science. Yes, one needs to even up the areas of white space between letter, but then one needs to bias the calculations in favour of the tops of the letters. And then make some allowance for any white space inside the letters, and .... and .... and ..... Spacing that is correct for 12-point type on paper would be quite wrong for a huge 3D sign on the side of a building, and so on.
      For perfection, there is no substitute for the human eye. The algorithms used by our brains to unscramble text are very complex.

Re:I'm not so sure...

[UbuntuDupe]

Personally I've noted that Magazines and Papers put a good bit of thought into layout, but I've never found them easier to read.

Yeah, I agree, though I think that has more to do with their dumbed-down slang phrasings than the typography.

8-year-old: "6 divided by 3 is 2."

Time magazine: "Okay, take the number six. You're all familiar with it, yes? It's a half-dozen. Now, imagine it divvied up into little chunklets -- three, specifically -- and each chunklet has the same number that math professor Gregory Beckens at Overinflated Ego University calls a 'quotient'. The so-called 'quotient' in this case? Dos."