[games_access] Font type and sizes in games

[Reid Kimball]

Didn't we come up with a similar list at one of the GDC round tables?
I remember we talked about ways to zoom on text that current games
could use. If we can dig up the list (if someone took notes) it might
be helpful to pass it along.

-Reid

On 6/12/06, AudioGames.net <richard at audiogames.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> *quote*
> Just to amuse - I used to work for a college that had Comic Sans as the
> standard font - we had to type every document in Comic Sans, until we got a
> visit from the RNIB... Apparently Comic Sans is one of the worst fonts for
> anyone who isn't dyslexic!
> *quote end*
>
> There have been many groups like this one: http://bancomicsans.com/home.html
> that say that Comic Sans is THE worst font ever - but then from an aestethic
> point of view only :)
>
> I have no real experience with a certain font being more accessible than
> normal but I guess that indeed some fonts are easier to read than others. I
> know some accessibility institutions would rather like to ban the "Italic"
> option since this makes an otherwise very readable font less readable (same
> with bold, actually). I do know some fonts have been designed with a minimal
> size and should not be used smaller. For example, Times New Roman was not
> designed to be used smaller than 12 pt.
>
> *quote*
> ...and to not fix any sizes (so people can scale them up or down easily with
> their browser / accessibility software).
> *quote end*
> *quote*
> Re-scalable fonts will be a tough one I think... But what do you think?
> *quote end*
>
> Barrie, you kind of said it already. The whole thing with "scalable
> fonts"-thing is something that comes from a browser-environment. In my
> opinion. In modern webdesign, webdesigners not only focus on "scalable
> fonts" (using em instead of pt), but on scalable websites, meaning that when
> the fonts are scaled, that the website's css takes on a new design that best
> fits the fonts size. This will keep floating DIV's from overlapping, for
> instance.
>
> So if we're thinking about scalable fonts in a game, why not think about
> having a scalable game (to avoid the text covering everything)? I guess
> there are quite a few problems with this though .... ;)
>
> In in case, there are often other options as well. What is the problem we're
> trying to solve with a too-little font size? That the text is too small to
> read for some? Why not add a feature that when the mouse hoovers over the
> text, that the text enlarges itsself automatically a bit (or, without the
> mouse, using a keyboard shortcut?). Why not use sound to make the text
> audible? Etc. etc.
>
> Just some thoughts...
>
> Greets,
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Barrie Ellis" <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk>
> To: "IGDA GA mailing list" <games_access at igda.org>
> Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 9:36 AM
> Subject: [games_access] Font type and sizes in games
>
>
> > Wondering if people have any thoughts, links to preferred fonts in games,
> > after this thread:
> >
> >
> > http://www.retroremakes.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=6608&page=2
> >
> > "
> >
> > Also we were banned from mixing colours in text, because that made things
> > even worse...
> >
> > So the moral seems to be make the menu colours and text in games based on
> > the user's Windows defaults or something. Then they will automatically get
> > the right mix of colours and characters... I think... "
> >
> >
> >
> > I mentioned that web-wise, the RNIB (Royal National Institute of the
> > Blind) have "verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif" as their order of
> > preference on their web-site, as to how it should display the bulk of
> > text.
> >
> > Quite a few people spoke of Comic Sans, mentioning that it may be of
> > benefit to dyslexics - but there was some dispute. I personally don't like
> > it, but that's from an aesthetic stand point.
> >
> > Re-scalable fonts will be a tough one I think... But what do you think?
> >
> >
> > Barrie
> > www.OneSwitch.org.uk
> >
> >
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> > games_access at igda.org
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>
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