design problem: fonts and spacing

[Marielle Lange]

>That leads to another question: What fonts is it _safe_ to assume one
>will find on Mac, OSX, Windows? (Linux?) I know it's possible to ask
>in a script, but that doesn't help very much with the design problem,
>when something about the font is critical. Is there a list,
>somewhere, of (the presumably very few) fontnames that will always
>work everywhere?

Hi Charles,

Common fonts to all versions of Windows & Mac equivalents
<http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html>

You will find information about user preference and reading performance in the
presence of different types of fonts at:
<http://psychology.wichita.edu/optimalweb/print.htm>

Eric,

As you mentioned you recently developed softwares for older adults, you may be
interested to know that in this same document provides abundant information
about preferences of older adults:
"Older Adults are more accurate with, and prefer larger font sizes. They also
prefer sans serif fonts over serif fonts. As discussed by Bernard, Liao, and
Mills (2001) reading online documents (about 2 pages), older adults
significantly preferred the larger, 14-point font size (see Figure 4 below). In
this study, serif fonts (Georgia and Times New Roman) were compared to sans
serif fonts (Arial and Verdana) at 12- and 14-points. The 14-point fonts were
found to be more legible, promote faster reading, and were preferred to the
12-point fonts. Also, at the 14-point size, serif fonts tended to support
faster reading (see Figure 6). Examining participants' 1st and 2nd preference
choice further shows the popularity of the 14-point size (see Figure 7). "

Marielle