Readability Matters White Paper: Maximizing Individual Reading Performance with Tuned Text Kathy Crowley and Marjorie Jordan July 17, 2019 Many researchers have demonstrated the value of changing text format to increase reading speed and accuracy for an individual. THE PROBLEM Unfortunately, the issue with adopting more readable text as an approach for education or even…
Readability Changes Impact Reading Performance Readability Matters advocates for the provision of a full set of Readability Features (including font choice, size, character spacing, character expansion, and line spacing.) Previous Readability Matters research has demonstrated significant numbers of readers benefit from the simple change to a clean round font, such as AvantGarde. Font matters…
Implementing Personalized Reading Readability Features required to tune text are a critical offering. However, they are only a piece of a much larger ecosystem required to support individual reading formats. Readability Matters envisions a multi-step path toward enabling personalized reading formats for all readers. First, Optimize Readability for the Individual Readability Matters challenges tech…
Readability Matters White Paper: Advancing the Reading Ecosystem Toward a Future of Personalized Reading Kathy Crowley and Marjorie Jordan May 7, 2019 Advancing the Reading Ecosystem Toward a Future of Personalized Reading: Human Factors Research + IT Systems Promise Value for Education, Business and Individuals SUMMARY It is well proven that small changes…
Think about the person that uses prescription eyeglasses… As they put them on, their speed of accurate reading immediately increases. Some people question whether or not text format changes (such as size, shape, and spacing) can significantly impact readability. A reader with the perfect pair of glasses offers an analogy. For readers who need…
Better Readability Improves Fluency and Comprehension Orthographic Processing Becoming a strong reader requires both the capacity to utilize sound-based decoding strategies and the ability to recognize familiar words accurately. Orthographic processing includes the ability to identify familiar letter patterns as words. Good readers rely less heavily on sound-based decoding strategies and more on orthographic…
Readability Creates Better Reading Experiences To explore the difference between legibility and readability of reading material, it is important to understand that legibility is a component of readability. Legibility is an informal measure of how easy it is to distinguish one letter from another in a particular typeface. Readability is about the…
Planning for Reader Impact The tech-for-good nonprofit Readability Matters’ ultimate goals are to deliver increased engagement and success for student learners and efficiency and productivity for knowledge workers. Theory of Change is a planning tool that is used in the nonprofit sector to promote social change. A Theory of Change document sets long-term goals…
Optimizing Reading Performance by Manipulating the Shape, Size, and Spacing of Text to Match the Individual’s Visual Processing Capacity Bonnie Shaver-Troup, Kathy Crowley, Marjorie Jordan Published by the Collective Impact Project, revReading, September 2017 The ability to read quickly and efficiently is essential in the digital world with the exponential proliferation of information. Yet,…