How do you prefer your Text?

Brighton based web design agency, Message, has launched a survey online which aims to answer some fundamental questions about usability on the web.

"Many designers have their own ideas about what constitutes 'readable' text, but much of this wisdom seems to be based on tried-and-tested rules from the world of print. While researching articles on the subject they often seemed to restate concepts I first heard twenty years ago!" says Jamie Freeman, Director of Message and author of "500 Simple Website Hints, Tips and Techniques".

Message found there to be a distinct lack of hard facts on the subject. So rather than rely on anecdotal evidence and received wisdom from the book publishing world, they've launched www.textprefs.com.

"We have created an easy-to-use web application which allows users to adjust an on-screen display until they find the text that is easiest to read. They can adjust the font, size, line height and column width - the major contributing factors in legibility," adds Jamie.

Once the user is happy with the display, they submit their text preferences to the Message database, which will start to build up a large and detailed statistical picture.

"Our goal is to publish a report that provides hard facts about what constitutes 'readable' text on the web," continues Jamie. "We see this report being of value not just to our clients and their customers but to web users at large."

Associated Link: Take part in the Message survey

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