# Dyslexia fonts

DevFeed: [Dyslexia fonts](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/dyslexia-fonts-9381.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://a11yproject.com/posts/dyslexia-fonts/>)

Author: Hamsa Harcourt

Published: 2021-02-22T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [The A11Y Project](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/the-a11y-project.md>)

Topics: [Font](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/font.md>), [Web](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/web.md>), [pdf](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/pdf.md>)

Tags: [fonts](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/fonts.md>), [pdf](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pdf.md>), [readability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/readability.md>), [research](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research.md>), [typography](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/typography.md>), [web](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/web.md>)

## AI overview

The article explains dyslexia as a language-processing disorder and discusses how font design and typography can affect readability. It questions whether specialized dyslexia fonts improve reading, noting that research has not shown faster reading or fewer mistakes and that many people with dyslexia prefer common fonts such as Comic Sans, Verdana, and Helvetica. It also recommends general web typography practices, including adequate font size and increased line spacing.

## Source excerpt

Dyslexia is a Phonological Processing disorder. This means it is an issue with language processing, not vision. Dyslexia is a slight disorder of the brain that causes difficulty in reading and spelling, for example, but does not affect intelligence. Dyslexia - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Dyslexia affects about 1 in 5 people worldwide. Its symptoms range in severity from mild to extreme. It causes your brain to transpose letters, numbers, punctuation, and other characters, which affects your ability to read. This means that making Dyslexic-friendly fonts and typography choices are important things to consider. Background When designing fonts, some typographers flip and rotate one character to form other characters. Letters b, p, d and q are usually created using this method. This is because it makes it easier to make the font. However, this practice may cause problems for people with Dyslexia. It can make some letters, numbers, punctuation, and other characters become indistinguishable. This can make it easy to confuse one character for another. As a result, people with Dyslexia may prefer fonts where all the characters are unique. The questionable utility of Dyslexic fonts? Dyslexia fonts are typefaces designed so that each character is unique and distinguishable. Dyslexia fonts also make each character unique by using thicker lines in some parts of the letters, as well as slanting them a bit. They are intended to help people with Dyslexia. According to recent studies, it has been proven that Dyslexia fonts do not help people read faster and make fewer mistakes. In fact, most people with Dyslexia prefer Comic Sans, Verdana, and Helvetica to other fonts. For a detailed review of the research, see Good Fonts for Dyslexia (PDF). General font tips The following are general tips that improve the overall quality of your website's typography: Font size should be at least 12-14pt or its equivalent. This help people with cognitive disabilities, language and learning