[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #302: OpenDyslexic

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #302: OpenDyslexic
October 3rd, 2012

We'd venture a guess that not many librarians give a great deal of 
thought to fonts, even though a typeface is such an integral part of 
reading. On the other hand, a lot of librarians are concerned about 
making information accessible to everyone, and there are fonts that are 
specifically designed to make reading easier for people with dyslexia - 
reportedly about 5-10% of us. One of these fonts, OpenDyslexic, has been 
in the tech news lately primarily because it has no licensing fee and is 
free for anyone to use. That makes it very affordable for books and 
popular reading devices like e-readers and smartphones.

  * First free digital font optimized for dyslexics arrives
    <http://www.dailytech.com/First+Free+Digital+Font+Optimized+for+Dyslexics+Arrives/article27801.htm>
    (DailyTech/Jason Mick) "Curiously some dyslexic individuals visual
    processing cortexes rotate images that look slender, making
    characters appear backwards or upside down. By making the bottom
    look 'heavier' the font reportedly reduces this kind of visual 'bug'
    <http://www.dailytech.com/Brain+Imaging+Technique+May+Predict+a+Dyslexic+Childs+Ability+to+Improve+Reading+Skills/article20467.htm>
    in the brains of people with this disability. Mr. Gonzalez wasn't
    the first to use this trick, he explained, but he was the first font
    designer to make an affordable version."
  * Typefaces for dyslexia
    <http://bdatech.org/what-technology/typefaces-for-dyslexia/>
    (British Dyslexia Association New Technologies Committee) "Some
    dyslexic people have expressed strong feelings about typefaces, but
    there is no agreement apart from saying it should be sans serif.
    [...] We asked dyslexia forum members. Only a few people responded.
    So it may not be a burning issue for most dyslexic people. It is
    likely that line length, line spacing and font size are just as
    important."
  * New free font available to help those with dyslexia
    <http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-free-font-dyslexia.html>
    (Medical Xpress/Bob Yirka) "Once it was suggested that using
    bottom-heavy fonts might help with dyslexia, font developers rushed
    to create their own versions, hoping to capitalize on licensing
    fees. Gonzalez decided a better approach would be to design a font
    from scratch, and then make it free to anyone that wants to use it.
    And, that's exactly what he's done. Gonzalez' hope is that
    OpenDyslexic differs enough from other fonts on the market to
    prevent litigation efforts from removing it from the public domain."
  * OpenDyslexic font gains ground with help of Instapaper
    <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19734341> (BBC News/Leo
    Kelion) "However, the inclusion of the font in Instapaper last week
    is perhaps the clearest sign yet that it is going mainstream. The
    program - which allows users to save versions of webpages so that
    they can be read offline - has about two million registered
    accounts. The app's developer Marco Arment said he had first looked
    for a dyslexia-optimised font two years ago, but had failed to find
    one until he discovered OpenDyslexic."

*/Fonts fact:/*

If you're curious about /non-free/ fonts for dyslexics, take a look at 
Dyslexie <%20http://www.studiostudio.nl/en/project-dyslexie/en/> ($69), 
Gill Dyslexic <http://www.pixelscript.net/gilldyslexic/> ($20), or 
Sylexiad <http://www.robsfonts.com/sylexhome.html> (£56).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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