[Sigia-l] Users know how to set default font (was: RE: large font use)

[Adam Korman]

On Wednesday, November 27, 2002, at 03:42  PM, Boniface Lau wrote:

> users appeared to know how to choose the proper font
> face and size. 65.6% (almost 2/3) of the users had their default font
> set to one of the two best font face and size.

> Thus, the next time designers consider overriding the default font
> face and size, they should stop and seriously consider respecting the
> users' choice of font face and size.
>
> Users know what font face and size is best for them and they know how
> to set it as their default.

Unfortunately, the conclusions you leap to aren't supported by the 
study. First, what the researchers meant by "everyday default font" is 
not clear, though I assume they meant the default font used in the 
browser.

Second, we don't know if the participants' answers were influenced by 
the study itself. Did the researchers ask these questions about default 
font usage before or after the study? Did the researchers divulge the 
names of the fonts used in the study before asking which fonts 
participants use as defaults? And, were these responses were verified 
-- did they check to see if the self-reported answers actually matched 
the participants' system setups?

Third, they didn't ask how many people actively *chose* the default 
font they use (Times New Roman is the default used by most browsers at 
installation). You could cite the same info presented in the study to 
conclude that 87.6% of users either didn't change the default font set 
by the browser or didn't even know which font was set as the default.

Perhaps most important, there's no evidence that supports the idea that 
these are the *best* font faces and sizes, only that the participants' 
rank order preference of the options presented (a questionable 
indicator of anything) seems to mirror what they use as a default. So 
what?

Finally, while the study concludes that 12pt Arial is "best," it also 
finds that only 8.6% of participants had this set as their default. 
They also go on to say that "some participants stated that they had TNR 
as their default font but chose Arial as their preference after the 
study." So, it was only after they were forced to think about fonts by 
participating in a study that they took any action. This all seems to 
support the conclusion that most users do not think about this stuff.

The only safe conclusion to draw from this study is that there is 
another small pile of data out there masquerading as information!


Regards,
Adam
....
Adam Korman
adam at flexID.com
www.flexID.com