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

[Boniface Lau]

> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On
> Behalf Of Adam Korman
> 
[...]
> First, what the researchers meant by "everyday default font" is 
> not clear, though I assume they meant the default font used in the 
> browser.

Not clear? Really? What other reasonable interpretation could there
be?


> 
> 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?

The report was a summary. Thus, much details were not included. Isn't
it unfair to cast doubts on the findings just because the details were
not included?

Mind you, regardless of how much you don't like about the report
findings, a report deserves the benefit of the doubt.


> 
> 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). 

Why are you so sure that they didn't ask that question? 

Isn't your attempt to cast doubts goes a bit overboard?


> 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.

The report already said,

	"22% didn't know what their default font was".


> 
> 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 

Not just preferences, but also by their performance.


> of the options presented (a questionable indicator of anything)
> seems to mirror what they use as a default. So what?

That means the users were quite good at selecting a font face and size
suitable for their tasks.


> 
> 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.

If they did not think about that stuff, they would all have the same
default settings set during the browser installation. But that was not
the case.


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

Your response shows how far a person would go to cast doubts on
unpleasant reality, instead of accepting it.

Please try to be fair.


Boniface