OpenDyslexic is a free

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

designed to mitigate some of the common reading errors caused by

dyslexia Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, wri ...

. The typeface was created by Abbie Gonzalez, who released it through an open-source license. The design is based on

DejaVu Sans The DejaVu fonts are a superfamily of fonts designed for broad coverage of the Unicode Universal Character Set. The fonts are derived from Bitstream Vera (sans-serif) and Bitstream Charter (serif), two fonts released by Bitstream under a free ...

, also an open-source font. Like many dyslexia-intervention typefaces, most notably

Dyslexie Dyslexie is a typeface and font that was designed with the intention of mitigating some of the issues that dyslexics experience when reading. As many of the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet are visually very similar, the typeface e ...

, OpenDyslexic adds to dyslexia research and is a reading aid. It is not a cure for dyslexia. The typeface includes regular, bold, italic, bold-italic, and

monospaced font A monospaced font, also called a fixed-pitch, fixed-width, or non-proportional font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space. This contrasts with Typeface#Proportion, variable-width fonts, where t ...

styles. The benefit has been questioned in scientific studies. In 2012, Gonzalez explained their motivation to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

: "I had seen similar fonts, but at the time they were completely unaffordable and so impractical as far as costs go."

Integration

The

is an optional choice on many websites and formats, including

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

Instapaper Instapaper is a social bookmarking service that allows web content to be saved so it can be "read later" on a different device, such as an e-reader, smartphone, or tablet. The service was founded in 2008 by Marco Arment. In April 2013, Arment ...

Kobo eReader The Kobo eReader is an e-reader produced by Toronto-based Kobo Inc (a subsidiary of Rakuten). The company's name is an anagram of "book". The original version was released in May 2010 and was marketed as a minimalist alternative to the more ex ...

, Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, a few children's books, and at least one imprint of

classic literature A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

. There is also a

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...

extension available, which was developed by Abbie Gonzalez and Robert James Gabriel. It is also part of the "dyslexia-friendly mode" in

Oswald Foundation Oswald Labs (formerly ''Oswald Foundation'') is a Dutch- Indian based accessibility technology company that builds products for individuals with disabilities. It specializes in enterprise web accessibility, offers smartphone apps, and also ru ...

's web accessibility products.

Scientific studies

Two small studies have investigated the effect of specialized fonts used with students with

. Rello and Baeza-Yates (2013) measured eye-tracking recordings of Spanish readers (aged 11–50) with dyslexia and found that OpenDyslexic did not significantly improve reading time nor shorten eye fixation. In her master's thesis, Leeuw (2010) compared Arial and Dyslexie with 21 Dutch students with dyslexia and found Dyslexie did not lead to faster reading, but may help with some dyslexic-related errors. In its "dyslexia-friendly style guide", the

British Dyslexia Association British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

recommends using "sans serif fonts, such as

Arial Arial is a sans-serif typeface in the Sans-serif#Neo-grotesque, neo-grotesque style. Fonts from the Arial family are included with all versions of Microsoft Windows after Windows 3.1, as well as in other Microsoft programs, Apple's macOS, and ma ...

and

Comic Sans Comic Sans MS is a sans-serif typeface created and designed by Vincent Connare and released by Microsoft Corporation in 1994. Designed as a non-connecting script, the typeface draws inspiration from comic book lettering, to emulate the informal ...

, as letters can appear less crowded", adding that "alternatives include

Verdana Verdana is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft Corporation, with hand- hinting done by Thomas Rickner, then at Monotype. Demand for such a typeface was recognized by Virginia Howlett of Microsoft's typogra ...

, Tahoma,

Century Gothic Century Gothic is a digital sans-serif typeface in the geometric style, released by Monotype Imaging in 1990. It is a redrawn version of Monotype's own Twentieth Century, a copy of Bauer's Futura, to match the widths of ITC Avant Garde Gothic ...

Trebuchet A trebuchet () is a type of catapult that uses a hinged arm with a sling attached to the tip to launch a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles ...

Calibri Calibri () is a digital sans-serif typeface family in the humanist or modern style. It was designed by Luc(as) de Groot in 2002–2004 and released to the general public in 2006, with Windows Vista. In Microsoft Office 2007, it replaced Time ...

, nd

Open Sans Open Sans is an open source humanist sans-serif typeface that was designed by Steve Matteson under commission from Google. It was released in 2011 and is based on his earlier design called Droid Sans, which was specifically created for Android ...

Related typefaces

There are other typefaces and fonts that have been linked to benefits for people with dyslexia including:

BBC Reith The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current state ...

FS Me FS Me is a typeface/font that has been described as the first to have been designed in consultation with a group of people with learning disabilitiesSassoon and Sylexiad.

Notes

References

External links

* Management of dyslexia Sans-serif typefaces Open-source typefaces {{Typography-stub