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Amazon's Thin Helvetica Syndrome: Font Anorexia vs. Kindle Readability (teleread.com)

Posted by timothy on from the hey-tell-that-to-the-highway-sign-folks dept.

David Rothman writes: The Thin Helvetica Syndrome arises from the latest Kindle upgrade and has made e-books less readable for some. In the past, e-book-lovers who needed more perceived-contrast between text and background could find at least partial relief in Helvetica because the font was heavy by Kindle standards. But now some users complain that the 5.7.2 upgrade actually made Helvetica thinner. Of course, the real cure would be an all-text bold option for people who need it, or even a way to adjust font weight, a feature of Kobo devices. But Amazon stubbornly keeps ignoring user pleas even though the cost of adding either feature would be minimal. Isn't this supposed to be a customer-centric company?

3 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Trend towards illegibility by QuietLagoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The current trend towards very low contrast, low weight fonts by many websites and devices is most disturbing. One has to wonder why webmasters are so ashamed of their content that they want to make it so difficult for people to read it.

    1. Re:Trend towards illegibility by U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm still hoping it's a stupid trend, like all those ugly flat icons in dull washed-out pastel colours and GUI elements that are invisible but that you're expected to already know that they're there, what they represent and how they work.

    2. Re:Trend towards illegibility by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Did we mention the whitespace?

      Because I see the trend to add a half an inch of space around everything to make a layout suitable for ... well, I don't know what actually. Not reading, that's for sure.

      My bank recently changed the layout of their web pages ... I used to be able to see all of my accounts on one screen. And suddenly I have to scroll the damned page to read the exact same amount of information on a 23" monitor.

      I think "webmasters" just continue to have no fucking idea about readability and functionality, and instead just do what all the other idiots are doing.

      Just an endless series of things in which all pieces of text get so much personal space as to be absurd.

      They're all taking plays out of the same book, I just can't figure out what the hell it's supposed to be making better ... well, I strongly suspect it's everyone optimizing for tablets and not caring how shitty it looks on everything else.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.