阅读障碍友好字体

Dyslexia-friendly typography refers to typeface design and layout practices intended to reduce the reading difficulties experienced by people with dyslexia — a learning difference affecting an estimated 10–20% of the population. Dyslexia involves difficulty with phonological processing and letter recognition, and while no font can treat dyslexia, thoughtful typographic choices can meaningfully reduce cognitive load and reading errors.

Several typefaces have been specifically designed with dyslexic readers in mind. The most widely known is Dyslexie, a commercial font by Christian Boer that uses unique letterform modifications — varying baseline weights, larger openings, and tilted characters — to prevent the letter reversals and rotations that dyslexic readers sometimes experience. OpenDyslexic is a free alternative with similar philosophy, available from Google Fonts:

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=OpenDyslexic:wght@400;700&display=swap');

.dyslexia-mode {
  font-family: 'OpenDyslexic', 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;
}

It's worth noting that research on specialized dyslexia fonts is mixed. Some studies show modest improvements in reading speed; others show no significant benefit over other highly legible typefaces. Many dyslexia researchers now suggest that any highly legible font with well-spaced letterforms may be as effective as purpose-built dyslexia fonts.

General typographic principles that help dyslexic readers:

/* A dyslexia-considerate text layout */
.readable-article {
  font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Verdana', sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.125rem;        /* Slightly larger than base */
  line-height: 1.8;           /* Generous line spacing */
  letter-spacing: 0.05em;     /* Slight character spacing */
  word-spacing: 0.1em;        /* Additional word spacing */
  max-width: 60ch;            /* Shorter line length */
  text-align: left;           /* Never justified */
}

p {
  margin-bottom: 1.5em;       /* Clear paragraph separation */
}

Fonts with high character differentiation are particularly valuable. The letters b, d, p, and q are mirror images of each other — a source of specific difficulty. Fonts that give each character a unique silhouette help: some introduce slight serifs or distinctive features only on certain letters, using "semiserif" designs as a disambiguation strategy.

Practical typeface choices that perform well for dyslexic readers (without being specialty fonts): - Open Sans — open apertures, generous spacing, very legible at all sizes - Verdana — wide characters, high x-height, strong character distinction - Trebuchet MS — humanist forms with clear differentiation - Atkinson Hyperlegible (from the Braille Institute) — explicitly designed for low vision and legibility, available on Google Fonts

Avoid fonts where letters like a and g use complex traditional forms — stick to single-story a (like a reversed c with a stem) and g (like a circle with a descender) rather than double-story alternates.

Never use all-caps for body text — it removes the word shape variation that helps all readers, and dyslexic readers rely on this heavily. And avoid light font weights below 300, which reduce stroke visibility and character definition.

Offering a user-selectable "reading mode" with these adjustments is an excellent accessibility feature that serves dyslexic users without imposing those choices on everyone.