this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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You Should Know

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Note that there still have been no studies on its efficacy. At worst, it is a great font to avoid ambiguity between characters.

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[–] RutabagasnTurnips@lemmy.ca 8 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I see a lot of people discussing this font and mentioning OpenDyslexia.

I couldn't find research on Atkinson Hyperlegible. It says it was recently this year, I also couldn't find any research on effectuveness when I looked through the website. If I missed it I aplogize and would love to learn more if someone wants to take the time to link/copy the applicable info. My hope is since it's a non-profit group focusing on helping those with vision problems it has been well developed tested for effectiveness. Certainly if someone wants to try for themselves please do. Before going all out though say converting large volumes of things or implementing for a classroom I think asking questions would be prudent.

Unfortunately OpenDyslexia does not actually help those with this learn disability! The authors of the below article do a good job of discussing why and the harm misconception/misuse of products like these can create.

Wery JJ, Diliberto JA. The effect of a specialized dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic, on reading rate and accuracy. Ann Dyslexia. 2017 Jul;67(2):114-127. doi: 10.1007/s11881-016-0127-1. Epub 2016 Mar 18. PMID: 26993270; PMCID: PMC5629233. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5629233/

Here is some more info and strategies for those instered in regards to dyslexia. https://childmind.org/article/understanding-dyslexia/

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Thank you so much for taking the time to research and share you findings.

As to Atkinson Hyperlegible, I suppose its merit could be, at most, making it harder to confuse characters such as B8, O0, or 1Iil.

Beyond these benefits (and as you mentioned), there is just not enough information on whether Atkinson Hyperlegible definitely helps or not.

Also, thanks for the link on dyslexia. I suppose that, to an extent, promoting fonts like Open Dyslexia could lead to the unintended consequences described in the article.

[–] Dr_Nik@lemmy.world 29 points 11 hours ago (6 children)

This is nowhere near as good as the Open Dyslexic font. It looks weird, and I'm not dyslexic, but damn it makes me able to read so much faster!

https://opendyslexic.org/

[–] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 10 points 5 hours ago

I find it ironic that their website has extremely low contrasting colors making it very hard to read.

(Look at the top left for the worst example)

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 hours ago

I actually changed my Anki to OpenDyslexic a couple of months ago! I changed it again when Atkinson Hyperlegible Next came out, but I agree that OpenDyslexic makes reading a breeze.

My only grievance with OpenDyslexic is that I don't think I could send reports with this font without pushback. On the other hand, I have sent multiple reports using Atkinson Hyperlegible and nobody has ever said a thing.

[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 10 points 9 hours ago

This looks like the font used on shroom tshirts

[–] AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 18 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

I wish there was an open font that tries to do the same thing, but with an aesthetic that wasn't reminiscent of comic sans.

[–] JustARaccoon@lemmy.world 13 points 8 hours ago

You're looking at it, the one linked In the op lmao

[–] Cosmonaut_Collin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

But comic sans is funny

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

I wonder how it works. Maybe it has to do with the intentional varying of the sizes of holes in letters, and the lopsided lines so one can't be confused as another.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

While dyslexia is actually a cluster of related issues, a common one seems to be with dimensionality. Basically, the reader's brain assumes the objects are 3 dimensional. When the eyes make micro adjustments, the letters don't rotate, since they are 2D. The brain misinterprets this as them rotating, or moving. This is perceived as them flickering or moving, in the corner of your eye.

There are several ways to break this effect. I suspect the shape is intended to mess with and slightly overload the depth sense. Strong colours can also disrupt it. E.g. via a coloured filter or glasses.

Just to note, my knowledge/research on this was 20 years ago, so might be outdated now. The coloured filters (actually tinted reading glasses) did help a relative overcome dyslexia however.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 19 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

I think this actually has a negative effect for me. It's like every character is now screaming for my attention, and my brain can't read whole words and phrases. I have to process the letters first. Though it's possible this could be more to do with the website's rendering on mobile and default font size.

[–] morrowind@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Do you struggle with monospace fonts too?

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Not at all.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

That's interesting. I'd love to know if you have the same experience on a desktop and with different font sizes.

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 2 points 7 hours ago

It's fine for me on mobile, and I'm glad that the "I" has horizontal lines. So many scammers adopt fake usernames by using an "I" (capital "i") instead of an "l" (lowercase "L") and vice versa.

[–] GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca 9 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It doesn't work for me either. Just reading the text on the page linked here was uncomfortable. It's not like you describe though - for me it's like there's too much white space and there's this mass of words almost floating around the page and it's hard to keep track of where I'm up to. I am a bad/slow reader and all reading is like that for me - that font just seems to make it worse.

[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 1 points 5 hours ago

I think this font is meant for people with bad eyesight. The website doesn’t make any claims about trouble reading for other reasons.

I’ve always read very fast with no problems but now I’m old and can’t see small print as easily. This font actually was much more comfortable for me to read without my glasses, which I guess is nice for me but no use at all for you.

How do you feel about comic sans and the open dyslexia font some other comments on this page are talking about with positive and negative comments? Do those make any difference at all to you?

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 13 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It's also aesthetically pleasant which is a big plus.

[–] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Not for readability it isn't

[–] CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee 1 points 2 hours ago

There is a balance to be had. Comic sans is great for readability for as much shit as it gets but it is ugly in most contexts so having something that is balanced to look good and still be more legible is a good thing.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 18 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Its beyond free for use, its OFL.

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 11 points 11 hours ago (2 children)
[–] gofsckyourself@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

Ordinarily Frisky Lingo

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 7 points 11 hours ago

Open font license

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 32 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

Coolness! I like the bionic font, but it’s more “just for me” than anything. This looks like a great default.

https://www.brailleinstitute.org/freefont/

[–] HappyFrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 12 hours ago
[–] fievel@lemm.ee 8 points 12 hours ago

The original Atkinson Hyperlegible (without Next) is available by default on some Kobo e-readers. I use it for a few months now and I find that indeed it helps reading at night (or without my glasses because it's nice to remove them from time to time).

[–] NONE_dc@lemmy.world 23 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I have been using this font as the default font on my personal laptop and I am more than happy with the way it looks and reads.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 12 points 15 hours ago

A couple of years ago I tried using the original Atkinson Hyperlegible (the one published a couple of years ago, before "Next") on GNOME and my settings didn't quite work. I had scaling at around 100% and increased the font size a little bit because I was having a hard time reading the font (the irony!). You inspired me to try again, but now with Atkinson Hyperlegible Next!

[–] letraset@feddit.dk 5 points 11 hours ago

I use this font for any document I type up, if it's to be consumed by anyone else but myself.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 19 points 15 hours ago

can't wait for this to be in distros by default.

[–] brot@feddit.org 15 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I have been using this font on my eBook Reader for years. It's great. Highly recommended - it might look a little bit goofy at the first glance, but it really is more readable.

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[–] 667@lemmy.radio 9 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

I just added this to my eReader. I’ve been reading g a lot lately and while I haven’t had any difficulty, I’m eager to see if it enhances comprehension.

Good post OP.

[–] CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee 1 points 2 hours ago

If you havent tried it yet I really enjoy vollkorn.

[–] snek_boi@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I'm glad you found it useful.

If you're experimenting with fonts to see how they change comprehension, you could try Open Dyslexic too! It looks quite ugly, but it makes reading easier to me and another commenter on this thread. I suppose it's a matter of testing what works best for you.

[–] 667@lemmy.radio 1 points 5 hours ago

Thank you for that suggest. I had taken a peek at it a while ago and it’s too “wobbly” for me.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 points 11 hours ago

It feels like Arial but with serifs.

[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago

As someone that has pretty decent vision, I enjoyed reading this font very much. Imma have to download it just because it's pleasant to read.

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