#legibility — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from John Adams

The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
(Attributed)

More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/35775/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cursive #handwriting #idiosyncrasy #writing #legibility

#Design #Mindsets
What’s the purpose of information architecture? · “IA is still widely misunderstood.” https://ilo.im/16f5gz

_____
#IA #Legibility #Capacity #Systems #AI #ProductDesign #UxDesign #WebDesign

This legibility problem is rampant in human resources functions worldwide. If they even make a job function legible, a rare feat indeed, their salience is typically severely biased and seen through a rearview mirror. Read James C Scott's Seeing Like a State for more insights.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CWf03RbJapw

#sutherland #employment #perspective #hiring #humanresources #jobs #function #philosophy #work #function #compression #bias #legibility

One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher.

Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically.

This is the reference #documentation for an API, a small excerpt from the navigation links that run down a column on the left side of the page. The #text is darkish #grey on a lighter grey background. The contrast is terrible, particularly ignoring the highlighted entry because that's bolded as the current selection.

If you have #cataracts or any other #vision problem, you're going to have trouble with this. But it gets worse.

That text is 7 pixels high. On my monitors, it's 3 mm high. Ridiculous. Note that if you have fine motor-control problems or use alternative input devices, these are also extremely difficult to click on.

Here's the kicker: for this site, I have Firefox set to #scale the text up to 133%. That 7 pixels / 3 mm is *after* enlarging it.

#Web folks, please try to remember that not everyone is a twenty-something able-bodied person with zero accessibility issues.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #usability #readability #legibility #WebPage

I'm not sure the gender debate is all that these days with the distraction factory in DC; nonetheless, I've been reading Judith Butler's Gender Trouble.

https://open.substack.com/pub/brywillis634737/p/the-striated-woman-no-one-owns-the?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

I like Butler's ideas a lot, so I wanted to engage her material directly. Beauvoir is another favourite.

#philosophy #language #writing #blog #podcast #identity #women #feminism #judithbutler #beauvoir #socialontology #legibility #substack #ontologicalgrammar #gendertheory #criticaltheory #politics

#legibility #TinyFunFonts

People seem to love philosophical trolley problems, but they expose more about ontological grammar than a morality profile.

https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/28/how-trolley-problems-launder-metaphysics-into-intuition/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

The first of a 2-part series on the trolley problem. Part 2 will extend the issue out of the lab and into reality with autonomous devices.

#philosophy #psychology #morality #ontologicalgrammar #harm #trolleyproblem #choice #legibility #acculturation #society #ethics #deontology #virtue #consequences #utility #value #stoicism #blog #podcast

Ah, the age-old #debate of serif vs. sans serif, now with *more toggles* than your grandma's cable box 📺. Apparently, the secret to better #legibility lies in a 10,000-word thesis that could put an insomniac to sleep faster than Comic Sans. Good thing #JavaScript is disabled, or the endless navigation menus would have you lost forever. 🤦‍♂️🔍
https://library.oapen.org//handle/20.500.12657/53344 #serifvsansserif #typography #designhumor #HackerNews #ngated

The Legibility of Serif and Sans Serif Typefaces (2022)

https://library.oapen.org//handle/20.500.12657/53344

#HackerNews #Legibility #Typography #Serif #SansSerif #DesignInsights

#Design #Launches
Symbl · Preview your logo under visual stress https://ilo.im/16bi0d

_____
#Business #Logo #Symbol #Legibility #UiDesign #VisualDesign #WebDesign #Development #WebDev #Frontend

I discuss physics through the lens of a Procrustean bed.
https://open.substack.com/pub/brywillis634737/p/the-procrustean-universe?r=pvxh5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

#philosophy #physics #language #perception #classics #blog #podcast #measurement #order #truth #paradox #legibility #administration

The Legibility of Time: What Physics, Governance, and Poetry Have in Common

https://brywillis634737.substack.com/p/the-legibility-of-time?r=pvxh5

#philosophy #physics #reading #books #time #rovelli #bergson #einstein #legibility #method #thoreau #weeds #flowers #blog

@moonglow started a discussion about legible fonts. That prompted me to make these three tables of fonts.

Some of these fonts have a reputation for legibility. Others are just very common. The latter are so you can see how legible or not the popular fonts are.

I've included four columns of easily confused characters. I recommend using those columns as your primary criteria.

Edit: Added additional readable fonts.

#accessibility #legibility #font #fonts #typeface #typefaces

A colleague and I chatted about a recent publication; he graciously noted he didn't agree with me. I realise that my example was strictly US. In this post, I don't lose the US frame; I added more background and brought in some name support. Feedback and counterpoints welcome.
👉 https://philosophics.blog/2026/02/12/the-architecture-of-cognitive-compromise/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
#philosophy #morals #ethics #thickness #legibility #ontology #biopower #habitus #paradox #tolerance #epistemology #abortion #rights #culture #frameworks #society #blog #podcast #communication

Data and information are never neutral. Seeing Like a State should be required reading for all statisticians, data scientists, and 'if you can't measure it, you can't manage it' cohorts. As I've mentioned before, stats is tossed into maths curricula despite being more about methodology; this talks about historicity.
👉 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20186.Seeing_Like_a_State

#philosopy #socialscience #reading #books #maths #statistics #Enlightenment #perspective #legibility #convenience #critique

#Design #Launches
Hyperlegible Sans · An open-source font for accessible design https://ilo.im/169wii

_____
#OpenSource #Font #Typography #Legibility #Accessibility #UiDesign #WebDesign #Development #WebDev #Frontend

A new typeface for Volvo – Instantly legible at a glance yet also referencing the vertical tail lamps and the diagonal of the three-point safety belt.
https://www.dezeen.com/2025/12/19/volvo-centum-typeface-safety/

Volvo already had a perfectly fine and just as legible custom typeface, but sure, go ahead and spend millions on an Aptos lookalike designed with “science”
#fonts #legibility #typeface

Happy Christmas. I don’t celebrate it. I remain unimpressed by its commercial bloat and theological inheritance. Still, the calendar insists, and this piece lands today.

A deaf child meets Santa. Nothing miraculous happens. No lesson is announced. Santa signs. The performance bends just enough for the child to be seen on her own terms.
🎄https://philosophics.blog/2025/12/25/legibility-meets-humanity/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

#Legibility #Language #Philosophy #DisIntegration #PostEnlightenment #Recognition #Disability #xmas #Meaning #Christmas #NotebookLM

🧡💜 Lancement de la BBB ReadMe 🧡💜

Jeudi à 19h au Café Alcantra du Pianofabriek. Ouvert à toustes !

La BBB ReadMe est une fonte post-binaire à haut potentiel de lisibilité dessinée par Clara Sambot @eugbidaut @Ludi (+ avec un peu d'aide de Capu Colomès 🐣).

#typeface #font #typography #launch #dyslexia #dyslexiafont #legibility #readability #byebyebinary #postbinary #queer

"Thinking in terms of #legibility and illegibility explains so many of the things that are confusing about large software companies. It explains why companies do many things that seem obviously counter-productive, why the rules in practice are so often out of sync with the rules as written, and why companies are surprisingly willing to tolerate rule-breaking in some contexts."

#seeingLikeAState

https://www.seangoedecke.com/seeing-like-a-software-company

The Good, the Bad, and the Unreadable, by @malin-h.bsky.social:

https://stiftelsenfunka.org/about-us/columns/the-good-the-bad-and-the-unreadable/

#fonts #readability #legibility #accessibility #wcag

And this is how fast Apple's #LiquidGlass style has infiltrated marketing.

As demonstrated here, the #legibility issues are a defining feature of this style, not a bug 😬

I know a ‘scrim’ as a translucent overlay, placed on images beneath a text overlay to enhance text legibility by increasing luminescence contrast.

Origins of the word ‘Scrim’ are unknown. It is used in theater to describe a loosely woven, translucent black curtain hung across the stage. When unlit from behind, it appears as a solid back wall. If actors behind it are lit, they become visible through the scrim, less bright and defined than actors in front of it.
#scrim
#theatre
#legibility

It’s More Than Picking a Pretty Font, by @uxdesigncc:

https://archive.fo/V8dek

#accessibility #fonts #legibility #readability #typography #wcag

Designing for the Eye: Optical Corrections in Architecture and Typography
https://www.nubero.ch/blog/015/
#ycombinator #Architecture #Typography #Typefaces #Legibility

Welcome! As I tell my design students, think carefully about having a good value contrast when choosing text and background colors. You don’t want your message to be misunderstood. #legibility #design #color #accessibility

An empirical study to determine if identifier-naming conventions (i.e., camelCase vs. snake_case) affect code comprehension: “The underscore style is significantly faster […]”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224159770_An_Eye_Tracking_Study_on_camelCase_and_under_score_Identifier_Styles
#research #programming #language #legibility

#Design #Guides
Picking a pretty font? · A guide to accessible typography https://ilo.im/164y1s

_____
#Fonts #Typography #Accessibility #Legibility #Readability #ProductDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign #WebDev #Frontend

Atkinson Hyperlegible Font via the Braille Institute

Is this font easy for you to read? Good—that’s the idea.

At Braille Institute, we’ve created a family of hyperlegible™ fonts designed to improve legibility and readability for individuals with low vision. These carefully crafted fonts feature clear, highly distinctive letters and numbers that make reading easier and more accessible.
Our award-winning font has made reading easier for millions upon millions of people and continues to change lives daily. Good news, it’s free for everyone—from personal use to all commercial applications.
Start reading with ease today!

http://welchwrite.com/blog/2025/06/14/atkinson-hyperlegible-font-via-the-braille-institute-shared/

#font #brailleinstitute #typestyle #legible #legibility #design #typography #free #shared