Open Dyslexic - Dyslexia Fonts

According to research [1], fonts similar to this don't entirely do the trick, but they help with certain errors.

[1] http://www.ilo.gw.utwente.nl/ilo/attachments/032_Masterthesi... (page 3)

It looks like a clone of http://www.studiostudio.nl/project-dyslexie. That, IMO, is more smart marketing than science. The only underlying research I can find is http://www.ilo.gw.utwente.nl/ilo/attachments/032_Masterthesi..., which states:

"Results: No significant difference in speed was measured, but there were some positive and negative effects found for the interaction font and dyslexia on the accuracy for reading words and non-words.

Conclusion: Reading with the font “Dyslexie” does not improve the reading speed for reading words. However some specific type of reading errors are decreased, but others are increased. Overall the dyslectics read fewer errors while reading the words printed in the font “Dyslexie”.

Further research in needed to examine the hypotheses that the reading speed and accuracy increases while reading texts that are printed in the font “Dyslexie”."

So, I would treat it as "if it works for you: fine", but I wouldn't start using it in physical print, as some publishers have done.

There are several comments already about the scientific validity of this font, but the issue is much deeper.

"Dyslexia" cannot be meaningfully distinguished from "poor reading skills" in any measurable way. There is no evidence for the efficacy of any intervention that is uniquely suited to dyslexia; All effective interventions are equally effective in improving the reading skills of non-dyslexic individuals. There is no evidence for the efficacy of special fonts, coloured overlays or any other visual aid. These interventions are simply placebo and are likely to distract from proven interventions which are known to be effective.

The popular notion of dyslexia as a unique neurological disorder has no basis in fact. There is no agreed-upon definition of dyslexia beyond the very general description of "a significant impairment in reading ability without significant cognitive impairment". The intellectually honest thing would be to abandon the term completely in favour of a simple factual description such as "poor reading skills", but this is politically unlikely.

http://www.nrdc.org.uk/projects_details.asp?ProjectID=75

As someone working on a free open-source project that is almost as text-intensive as it can get, I was really happy to see a dyslexia font/typeface that was truly free, when Marco Arment announced it would be included in Instapaper.

The gist of the research is to create typefaces whose characters, even flipped and rotated, cannot be confused at all.

I've seen others like http://redd.it/j277w that, as interesting as the look, weren't free, and as a result come with a lot of problems.

There are two approaches:

1. Client-side typeface support.

2. Service-side typeface support.

People with dyslexia can easily purchase a dyslexia typeface and embed it in their OS and force their browsers to display websites with the new typeface, while service-providers can't always just fork over five bucks and link to the .ttf or .otf file without getting into trouble.

Paid typefaces are great for clients, but aren't always for service-providers.

I have always wondered why Apple have never provided a dyslexia typeface with iOS and OS X. Considering their efforts in accessibility, maybe they don't believe in the efficacy of dyslexia-friendly typefaces.

While there is still a discussion of quality[1] and efficacy to be had, the real news here is that someone made the effort of providing people with a truly free dyslexia typeface, which has been sorely missed to this day.

[1]: I think what irks me is the large font weight even for the regular font. The bold font is barely discernable from the regular.