Watch Episode 28
Wildflower KAL begins on March 1, 2024.
Check out the kits from Mystery Mouse Yarn Co.
Get a cute bag for the KAL from Delightful Works!
Both the Wildflower for adults, and Wildflower for Babies, Kids, and Teens are available for a 15% discount during the month of February
Ravelution Yarn, Sweet Mountain Crafts, Skeinz, Knitty McPurly, Cascade Yarns
Word of the week!
Kerning and tracking are two related and frequently confused typographical terms. Both refer to the adjustment of space between characters of type.
Kerning Is Selective Letterspacing
Kerning is the adjustment of space between pairs of letters. Some pairs of letters create awkward spaces. Kerning adds or subtracts space between letters to create visually appealing and readable text.
- Kerning information for many commonly kerned character pairs is built into most quality fonts. Some software programs use these built-in kerning tables to apply automatic kerning to text. Each application provides varying amounts of support for built-in kerning information and may support only Type 1 or only TrueType kerning data.
- Anywhere from 50 to 1000 or more kerning pairs may be defined for any one font. A handful of the thousands of possible kerning pairs are Ay, AW, KO, and wa.
- Headlines usually benefit from kerning, and text set in all caps almost always requires kerning for best appearance. Depending on the font and the actual characters used, automatic kerning without manual intervention may be sufficient for most publications.
- Tracking differs from kerning in that tracking is the adjustment of space for groups of letters and entire blocks of text. Use tracking to change the overall appearance and readability of the text, making it more open and airy or denser.
- You can apply tracking to all text or selected portions. You can use selective tracking to squeeze more characters onto a line to save space or prevent a few words from carrying over to another page or column of text.
Comic Sans is controversial. Since its release in 1994, the playful, Batman-inspired font has been panned as “ugly” and “unprofessional,” particularly when used in situations where comic typefaces might be inappropriate.
Despite the criticism, Comic Sans remains one of the most popular sans-serif fonts available — and according to some disability advocates, Comic Sans has at least one potentially important application: It may be more legible for people with reading disabilities.
Does research support using Comic Sans for accessibility?
In accessibility discussions, it’s important to listen to the experiences of people with disabilities. If someone says that a certain font helps them read, they’re probably telling the truth.
Many people with dyslexia describe comic sans as a powerful assistive tool, noting that the font has few repeated letter-shapes. The British Dyslexia Association recommends Comic Sans, noting that “letters can appear less crowded" than with other fonts.
But it’s also reasonable to be skeptical of these claims: As we’ve discussed in other articles, dyslexia is not a vision disorder. The condition affects a person’s ability to distinguish between phonemes (the sounds that make up words).
A number of dyslexia-specific fonts are available that claim to improve text legibility by using unique designs for every character. This is based on the idea that people with dyslexia “flip" characters when reading.
Currently, peer-reviewed studies have failed to support the use of specialized dyslexia fonts. For a more detailed explanation, read: Do Dyslexia Fonts Improve Accessibility?
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:23 What I am Wearing
00:02:20 KALs
00:08:20 Stash Organization
00:16:45 New Designs
00:19:50 What I am Working On
00:27:50 Definition