Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics • Hacker News Board

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#61

Post by antihero » Wed, Jul 13, 2011, 6:21 PM UTC

norova wrote: post #53

shoesfullofdust wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It appears to be licensed through http://www.lexima.nl/school-en-behandelaar/categorie/lettert... google translate: http://translate.google.ca/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl...

I appreciate the work they have done and have a great respect for the amount of research and effort behind this, but I really wish it was more affordable. My girlfriend is dyslexic and is struggling (even with reading lessons, etc.) through college because of it. I had her read the example in the video and some of the text on their site and she was able to do so much more efficiently. I'd love to be able to purchase…

That's insanely expensive. Why should only the dyslexic kids that go to rich schools be given this opportunity to read easily? Surely reading is one of the basic things that should be made as equal for everyone as possible?

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#62

Post by antihero » Wed, Jul 13, 2011, 6:21 PM UTC

norova wrote: post #53

shoesfullofdust wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It appears to be licensed through http://www.lexima.nl/school-en-behandelaar/categorie/lettert... google translate: http://translate.google.ca/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl...

I appreciate the work they have done and have a great respect for the amount of research and effort behind this, but I really wish it was more affordable. My girlfriend is dyslexic and is struggling (even with reading lessons, etc.) through college because of it. I had her read the example in the video and some of the text on their site and she was able to do so much more efficiently. I'd love to be able to purchase…

That's insanely expensive. Why should only the dyslexic kids that go to rich schools be given this opportunity to read easily? Surely reading is one of the basic things that should be made as equal for everyone as possible?

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#63

Post by pasbesoin » Wed, Jul 13, 2011, 6:50 PM UTC

For those who are not color blind, what about varying the colors? For different letters. Or, working from the presented idea of letter shapes to reinforce orientation,changing color within a letter (e.g., "blue = bottom")?

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#64

Post by Fester » Wed, Jul 13, 2011, 9:01 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #24

Fester wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it is a nice solution to make someone's life easier when there are no signs of a cure coming. For example, this font could be set up as a system's default (or even it could be enforced as the 'one and only' typeface) and thus it will make dyslexic's life better. IMO it's a win. Also you should note, that this font was created by a dyslexic, so I think he knows what he is doing.

He probably knows how to help himself, but that doesn't necessarily mean he knows how to help others. However, I did find some ideas that I thought might be helpful. In particular, making each letter bottom-heavy and making each letter different than other letters, so that if you rotate them, they aren't identical. Sadly, it appears that either doesn't work, or he didn't make drastic enough changes. I actually like t…

Just to clarify: your confidence in how dyslexic letter recognition works makes me think that you are a dyslexic, aren't you?

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#65

Post by tagnu_ » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 8:22 AM UTC

antihero wrote: post #59

tagnu_ wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the font. If you are on Windows XP, enable Font Smoothing. Desktop properties > Appearances > Effects > [x] Use the following methods to smooth edges of screen fonts: Select [Standard] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YITsgCuHhUk/TgnPnR-FzUI/AAAAAAAAAB...

I'm on Ubuntu, font smoothing is fine for anything that doesn't use some weird JS to render it as opposed to something rational and sane like @font-face. Thanks for trying to help, though.

Thank you for pointing that out. Didn't realize that I had Js enabled. (me too Ubuntu)

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#66

Post by lloeki » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 10:11 AM UTC

mitcheme wrote: post #40

lloeki wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The approach is weird because it focuses on shapes: "many of the letters look similar – such as v/w, i/j and m/n – thus people with dyslexia often confuse these letters" Dyslexic people usually don't confuse letters M and N, they confuse M and P. Notice how they don't relate in any sort of way. This shows how much of a brainfuck (no offense) it is to live with dyslexia, and how hard it is for non-dyslexic to understa…

Could I have a link to the M/P thing? I googled it but all I could find was stuff about M[agnocellular] and P[arvocellular] processing in dyslexics.

My wife is dyslexic. She used to have a hard time with phonemes and syllables containing M/P, T/D, F/V, P/B. Please note that she's a native French speaker, and language type (opaque vs transparent) seems to have an influence on dyslexia. She managed to reach university by herself, but was hitting more and more road blocks especially as she considered a Law cursus. She reached a speech&language therapist ("orthophoniste", don't know how developed it is over there, but it's quite a well-known field here in France) which trained her at working around her difficulties. She's now on a successful path towards a masters degree in Law, and you probably know how much words are of much importance in that field, so I guess it's a total win.

SLTs actually use those associations to quickly and accurately diagnose dyslexia, so sorry, I have no reference to give to you. It may look like anecdotal evidence, but I get that straight from the horse's mouth.

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#67

Post by lloeki » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 10:14 AM UTC

sjwright wrote: post #31

lloeki wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The approach is weird because it focuses on shapes: "many of the letters look similar – such as v/w, i/j and m/n – thus people with dyslexia often confuse these letters" Dyslexic people usually don't confuse letters M and N, they confuse M and P. Notice how they don't relate in any sort of way. This shows how much of a brainfuck (no offense) it is to live with dyslexia, and how hard it is for non-dyslexic to understa…

You mention that one might link 'm' to 'Green', for arbitrary reasons. Makes me wonder if anyone has tried actually colourising the typography. If every instance of 'm' was tinted green, every 'p' was tinted red, and perhaps a rainbow of tints for the most problematic characters, might the colour patterns made with words assist the reading process?

Speech language therapists ("orthophonistes" in France) actually use that kind of technique as training. Sometimes it's colors, or it can be pictures or symbols right above or below letters or words.

Re: Dyslexie: A typeface for dyslexics

#68

Post by mitcheme » Thu, Jul 14, 2011, 3:57 PM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #66

mitcheme wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could I have a link to the M/P thing? I googled it but all I could find was stuff about M[agnocellular] and P[arvocellular] processing in dyslexics.

My wife is dyslexic. She used to have a hard time with phonemes and syllables containing M/P, T/D, F/V, P/B. Please note that she's a native French speaker, and language type (opaque vs transparent) seems to have an influence on dyslexia. She managed to reach university by herself, but was hitting more and more road blocks especially as she considered a Law cursus. She reached a speech&language therapist (" orthophon…

OK, thank you. My high school math teacher was dyslexic but as he told it, it was an issue with letter rotation, flipping, and swapping, which is what I've heard from other sources (including local SLTs). Maybe that's something that depends on native language or the type of dyslexia you have.