Re: Font Size(s)

[Peter Gold <peter -at- knowhowpro -dot- com>]

Hi, Kelly:

In addition to any typographic guidelines, consider the age and visual 
ability of your audience, and perhaps even the conditions in which the 
materials are read. I once taught a writer whose audience was 
maintenance technicians at a nuclear power plant, who used the 
materials at the sites of troubleshooting and repair operations.

The "reading conditions" were often in dimly-lit maintenance spaces, 
and the "reading positions" were often cramped, perhaps kneeling, or 
even on one's back. This writer wanted to specify large type for most 
of the text, and even larger sizes for headings.

There's some thought that sans-serif faces like Verdana are rendered 
better than serif faces for on-screen viewing, but serif faces like 
Times are easier for the eye to "tie" letter forms together. The serifs 
don't work well on screen, but are suited to paper.

Regards,

Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices