On Screen Reading – Are you affected by typefaces in PDFs?
In the BBC magazine today, there is an article which would strike a familiar chord with most if not all web and visual designers ” Do typefaces really matter? ”
In our web design work, we have found that a certain amount of time is spent getting the typeface ‘right’ is often a worthwhile investment. It affects the visual ‘feel’ of the website, for example, one simply CANNOT use a Comic Sans typeface for an upmarket, corporate website. On the other hand, a Primay School website, would do well with a casual, ‘fun’ typeface that would represent the charater and ethos within the school.
All this pertains mainly to on-screen reading on ‘live’ interactive environments, websites, mobile sites, television, I wonder though, how does this translate on to pdf documents?
A significant amount of information is now often placed on pdf documents, and as much as these are documents which would have been printed off to be read previously, I increasingly find myself skimming the entire document and reading it on-screen.
I personally do not like the lack of interactivity and the lack of visual ‘engagement’ in reading a pdf document, and so try to avoid it when I can, however, I notice that I am less bothered by the choice of typeface in a pdf document. How do typefaces in pdf documents affect you? Do you still print off to read a pdf document? Are they a good way of getting reams of information across?
Author: Li-ling Ooi
