Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Award Date
1966
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department / School
Printing and Journalism
Abstract
The printer-publisher approach to readability of print has been more intuitive than empirical. They have traditionally stressed the esthetic quality of print, claiming . . . that the softer, freer-flowing oldstyle types, as exemplified by Cloister, Garamond, Granjon, and others, were easier to read in mass and less tiring to the eye than the sharp, precise modern-face letters. (17-161) The early investigators of readability of type were psychologists, physiology and pedagogy of reading. Huey said that the size of type was the “most important single factor” in ease of reading. From prior research reported it was evident that two opposing variables affected speed of reading, shorter line length and shorter alphabet length, were interacting when this process was used. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the prism-camera “shrinkage” process on speed of reading. From the foregoing discussion, one might tentatively hypothesize that the interaction of these two variables would cancel the other’s effect, thus reading speed would not be seriously affected. A secondary reason for this study was to investigate people’s preference of typographical treatment before or after photographic modification; that is, which form they thought was the most appealing and which form they thought was easiest to read. (see more in text)
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Reading, Psychology of
Type and type-founding
Format
application/pdf
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Truex, Joseph W., "A Study of Reading Times and Reader Preference when Line Length and Alphabet Length are Simultaneously and Directly Varied" (1966). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3243.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/3243