Chapter published in:
Learning to Read in a Digital World
Edited by Mirit Barzillai, Jenny Thomson, Sascha Schroeder and Paul van den Broek
[Studies in Written Language and Literacy 17] 2018
► pp. 31–56

Designing digital texts for beginner readers

Performance, practice and process

| University of Reading
| University of Reading
| Hasselt University
| Hasselt University
| Hasselt University
| Text Matters
This chapter summarises issues that designers consider when they are producing reading materials for beginning and emerging readers, including the constraints imposed by technology. We suggest ways of engaging with users of e-books so that their needs can be considered. We conclude by summarising the typographic parameters that are likely to benefit children’s reading.
Published online: 09 August 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/swll.17.02wal
References

References

Bateman, J.
(2014) Text and image: A critical introduction to the visual/verbal divide. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Beier, S.
(2012) Reading letters: Designing for legibility. Amsterdam: BIS.Google Scholar
Beier, S., & Dyson, M. C.
(2014) The influence of serifs on ‘h’ and ‘I’: Useful knowledge from design-led scientific research. Visible Language, 47(3), 74–95.Google Scholar
Beier, S., & Larsen, K.
(2010) Design improvements for frequently misrecognised letters. Information Design Journal, 18(2), 118–137. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, M.
(2000) Examining user expectations of the location of web objects. Internetworking, 3(3).Google Scholar
(2001) Developing schemas for the location of common web objects. Usability News, 3(1). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bessemans, A.
(2012) Letterontwerp voor kinderen met een visuele functiebeperking. (Unpublished PhD thesis). Leiden University & Hasselt University, Netherlands & Belgium.
(2016) Matilda, a typeface for children with low vision. In M. Dyson & C. Y. Suen (Eds.), Digital fonts and reading (pp. 19–36). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
BAAS (British Association for the Advancement of Science)
(1913) Report on the influence of schoolbooks upon eyesight. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Black, A., Luna, P., Lund, O., & Walker, S.
(Eds.) (2017) Information design: Research and practice. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bringhurst, R.
(1992) The elements of typographic style. Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks.Google Scholar
Bruckman, A., Bandlow, A., Dimond, J., & Forte, A.
(2012) Human-computer interaction for kids. In J. Jacko (Ed.), The human computer interaction handbook (pp. 841–862). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Coghill, V.
(1980) Can children read familiar words set in unfamiliar type? Information Design Journal, 1(4), 254–60.Google Scholar
Dillon, A.
(2004) Designing usable electronic text (2nd ed.). Boca Raton: CRC Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2017) Applying science to design: The quest for bridging representation. In A. Black, O. Lund, P. Luna, & S. Walker (Eds.), Information design research and practice (pp. 291–299). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Druin, A.
(2002) The role of children in the design of new technology. Behaviour and Interaction Technology, 21(1), 1–25. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Duschastel, P.
(1978) Illustrating instructional texts. Educational Technology, 18(11), 36–39.Google Scholar
Dyson, M. C.
(2005a) How do we read text on screen? In H. van Oostendorp, L. Breure, & A. Dillon (Eds.), Creation, use, and deployment of digital information (pp. 279–306). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
(2005b) Producing legible text on screen: Where do we look for guidance? Typo, 13, 30–35.Google Scholar
(2013) Where theory meets practice: A critical comparison of research into identifying letters and craft knowledge of type design. Design Journal, 16(3), 271–294. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2017) Information design research methods. In A. Black, O. Lund, P. Luna, & S. Walker (Eds.), Information design research and practice (pp. 435–449). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dyson, M. C., & Suen, C. Y.
(2016) Digital fonts and reading. Singapore: World Scientific. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Emery, D.
(1993) Developing effective instructional graphics. Journal of Interactive Instruction Development, 6(2), 20–124.Google Scholar
Filippatou, D., & Pumfrey, P.
(1996) Pictures, titles, reading accuracy and reading comprehension: A research review (1972–95). Educational Research, 38(3), 147–53. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fiset, D., Blais, C., Ethier-Majcher, C., Arguin, M., Bub, D., & Gosselin, F.
(2008) Features for identification of uppercase and lowercase letters. Psychological Science, 19(11), 1160–1167. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gambrell, L. B.
(2011) Seven rules of engagement: What’s most important to know about motivation to read. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 172–178. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goldfarb, C. F., & Rubinsky, Y.
(1990) The SGML handbook. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, E.
(1984) Research into illustration. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Gunn, J.
(1906) The infant school: Its principles and methods. London: Nelson.Google Scholar
Haber, R. N., & Haber, L. R.
(1981) Visual components of the reading process. Visible Language, 15(2), 147–182.Google Scholar
Hartley, J.
(1987) Designing electronic text: The role of print-based research. Educational Communication and Technology, 35(1), 3–17. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hartley, J., & Burnhill, P.
(1971) Experiments with unjustified text. Visible Language, 5, 265–278.Google Scholar
Hartley, J., & Trueman, M.
(1985) A research strategy for designers: The role of headings. Instructional Science, 14(2), 99–155. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hartley, J., Burnhill, P., & Davis, L.
(1978) The effects of line length and paragraph denotation on the retrieval of information from prose text. Visible Language, 12(2), 183–94.Google Scholar
Hochuli, J.
(2008) Detail in typography: Letters, letterspacing, words, wordspacing, lines, linespacing, columns (2nd ed.). London: Hyphen Press.Google Scholar
Horton, W.
(1990) Visual rhetoric for online documents. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 33(3), 108–113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Huey, E.
(1908) The psychology and pedagogy of reading with a review of the history of reading and writing and of methods, texts and hygiene in reading. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hughes, L., & Wilkins, A.
(2000) Typography in children’s reading schemes may be suboptimal: Evidence from measures of reading rate. Journal of Research in Reading, 23(3), 314–324. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2002) Reading at a distance: Implications for the design of big books. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 213–226. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
IDPF
2010 Open Publication Structure (OPS) 2.0.1 v1.0.1. International Digital Publishing Forum. http://​www​.idpf​.org​/epub​/20​/spec​/OPS​_2​.0​_latest​.htmGoogle Scholar
2017 3.1. International Digital Publishing Forum. http://​www​.idpf​.org​/epub​/31​/spec​/epub​-spec​.htmlGoogle Scholar
de Jong, M. T., & Bus, A. G.
(2003) How well suited are electronic books to supporting literacy? Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 3(2), 147–164. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kerr, J.
(1904) Eyesight in school life. In A. Newsholme, & W. C. Pakes (Eds.), School hygiene: The laws of health in relation to school life. London: Swann Sonnenschein & Co.Google Scholar
Kolers, P.
(1969) Clues to a letter’s recognition: Implications for the design of characters. Journal of Typographic Research, 3(2), 145–168.Google Scholar
Kostelnick, C., & Hassett, M.
(2003) Shaping information: The rhetoric of visual conventions. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Kozma, R. B.
(1991) Learning with media. Review of Educational Research, 61(20), 179–211. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T.
(1996) Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kucirkova, N., Littleton, K., & Cremin, T.
(2015) Young children’s reading for pleasure with digital books: Six key facets of engagement. Cambridge Journal of Education, 1–18. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Larson, K.
(2004) The science of word recognition or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bouma. Advanced Reading Technology, Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved from https://​www​.microsoft​.com​/typography​/ctfonts​/WordRecognition​.aspxGoogle Scholar
Legge, G. E., & Bigelow, C. A.
(2011) Does print size matter for reading? A review of findings from vision science and typography. Journal of Vision, 11(5), 8, 1–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Levie, W. H., & Lentz, R.
(1982) Effects of text illustrations: A review of research. Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 26(1), 195–232. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lund, O.
(1999) Knowledge construction in typography: The case of legibility research and the legibility of sans serif typefaces. (Unpublished PhD thesis). University of Reading, England, UK.
Mangen, A.
(2017) Textual reading on paper and screens: Implications for design. In A. Black, P. Luna, O. Lund, & S. Walker (Eds.), Information design research and practice (pp. 275–290). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Moys, J-L.
(2017) Visual rhetoric in information design. In A. Black, P. Luna, O. Lund, & S. Walker (Eds.), Information design research and practice (pp. 204–220). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J.
(2010) Children’s websites: Usability issues in designing for kids. Retrieved from https://​www​.nngroup​.com​/articles​/childrens​-websites​-usability​-issues/
Peeck J.
(1987) The role of illustration in processing and remembering illustrated text. In D. M. Willows, & H. A. Houghton (Eds.), The psychology of illustration. Vol. 1 basic research (pp. 115–151). New York: Springer Verlag. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pelli, D. G., & Tillman, K. A.
(2007) Parts, wholes, and context in reading: A triple dissociation. PLoS ONE, 2(8), e680. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pelli, D. G., Burns, C. W., Farrel B., & Moore-Page, D. C.
(2006) Feature detection and letter identification. Vision Research, 46(28), 4646–4674. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pelli, D. G., Farrell, B., & Moore, D. C.
(2003) The remarkable inefficiency of word recognition. Nature, 423, 752–756. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Philips, R., & diGiorgio, A.
(1997) Design. In R. Phillips (Ed.), Developer’s handbook to interactive multimedia: A practical guide for multimedia applications (pp. 59–194). London: Kogan Page.Google Scholar
Pyke, R. L.
(1926) Report on the legibility of print. Medical Research Council Special Report, no. 20. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Raban, B.
(1982) Text display effects on the fluency of young readers. Journal of Reading Research, 5, 7–28. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1984) Survey of teachers’ opinions: Children’s books and handwriting styles. In D. Dennis (Ed.), Reading: Meeting children’s special needs (pp. 123–129). London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Reynolds, L., & Walker, S.
(2004) ‘You can’t see what the words say’: Word spacing and letter spacing in children’s reading books. Journal of Research in Reading, 27(1), 87–98. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, L., Walker, S., & Duncan, A.
(2006) Children’s responses to line spacing in early reading books or ‘Holes to tell you which line you’re on’. Visible Language, 40(3), 246–267.Google Scholar
Ripoll, J. C.
(2015) Font legibility in first year primary students / Legibilidad de distintos tipos de letra en alumnus de primero de primaria. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 38(3), 600–616. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rockley, A.
(1994) Planning a multimedia documentation project. Technical Communication, 41(4), 414–421.Google Scholar
Roth, S. P., Schmutz, P., Pauwels, S. L., Bargas-Avila, J. A., & Opwis, K.
(2010) Mental models for web objects: Where do users expect to find the most frequent objects in online shops, news portals, and company web pages? Interacting with Computers, 22(2), 140–152. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salmerón, L., & García, V.
(2011) Reading skills and children’s navigation strategies in hypertext. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1143–1151. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sanocki, T.
(1987) Visual knowledge underlying letter perception: Font-specific schematic tuning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 13(2), 267–278. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sanocki, T., & Dyson, M.
(2012) Letter processing and font information during reading: Beyond distinctiveness, where vision meets design. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 74(1), 132–145. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
dos Santos Lonsdale, M.
(2014) Typographic features of text: Outcomes from research and practice. Visible Language, 48(3), 29–67.Google Scholar
Sassoon, R.
(1993) Through the eyes of a child: Perception and type design. In R. Sassoon (Ed.), Computers and typography (pp. 150–177). Oxford: Intellect Books.Google Scholar
Shaikh, A. D., & Lenz, K.
(2006) Where’s the search? Re-examining user expectations of web objects. Usability News, 8(1).Google Scholar
Schriver, K.
(1997) Dynamics in document design: Creating text for readers. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Smith. F.
(1994) Understanding reading. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sorkin, E.
(2016) Optimizing type for use in specific media. In M. Dyson & C. Y. Suen, Digital fonts for reading. New Jersey: World Scientific. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Southall, R.
(1984) First principles of typographic design for document production, TUGboat 5(2): 79–90.Google Scholar
Spencer, H.
(1969) The visible word. London: Lund Humphries.Google Scholar
TechKnowledge
(2014) The use of tablets in UK schools, a research report. September 2014, Techknowledge for Schools. Retrieved from https://​learningfoundation​.org​.uk​/wp​-content​/uploads​/2016​/04​/FKY​-The​-Use​-of​-Tablets​-in​-UK​-Schools​-September​-2014​.pdf
Tinker, M.
(1968) Suitable typography for beginners in reading. Education, 88(4), 317–320.Google Scholar
Twyman, M.
(1982) The graphic presentation of language. Information Design Journal, 3(1), 2–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Venezky, R.
(1984) The history of reading research. In D. Pearson, R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (Vol. 1, pp. 3–38). London: Longman.Google Scholar
Walker, S.
(2001) Typography and language in everyday life: Prescriptions and practices. Harlow: Longman.Google Scholar
(2005) The songs the letters sing: Typography and children’s reading. Reading: National Centre for Language and Literacy.Google Scholar
(2013) Book design for children’s reading: Typography, pictures, print. London: St Bride Foundation.Google Scholar
Walker, S., & Reynolds, L.
(2000) Screen design for children’s reading: Some key issues. Journal of Research in Reading, 23(2), 224–234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Walker, S., & Reynolds L.
(2002/3) Serifs sans serif and infant characters in children’s reading books. Information Design Journal, 11(2/3), 106–122.Google Scholar
Walker, S., Reynolds, L., & Edwards, V.
(1999) Interactive multimedia in primary schools: Children’s use and understanding of informant texts on CD-ROM, and implications for teachers and designers. British Library Research and Innovation report 157. London: British Library.Google Scholar
Waller, R.
(1991) Typography and discourse. In R. Barr, et al., (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, 2 (pp. 341–380). New York: Longman.Google Scholar
(2012) Graphic literacies for a digital age: The survival of layout. The Information Society: An International Journal, 28(4), 236–252. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Watts, L., & Nisbet, J.
(1974) Legibility in children’s books: A review of research. Slough: NFER Publishing Company Ltd.Google Scholar
Wilkins, A., Cleave, R. Grayson, N., & Wilson, L.
(2009) Typography for children may be inappropriately designed, Journal of Research in Reading, 32(4), 351–434. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, A. J., Smith, J., Willison, C. K., Beare, T., Boyd, A., Hardy, G., Mell, L., Peach, C., & Harper, S.
(2007) Stripes within words affect reading. Perception, 36(12), 1788–1803. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Williams, T. R.
(1993) What’s so different about visuals? Technical Communication, 40, 669–676.Google Scholar
Wigfield, A., & Guthrie, J. T.
(2000) Engagement and motivation in reading. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, 3 (pp. 403–422). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Winn, W.
(1989) The design and use of instructional graphics. In H. Mandl & J. Levin (Eds.), Knowledge acquisition from text and pictures (pp. 125–144). Amsterdam: Elsevier. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Woods, R. J., Davis, K., & Scharff, L. V. F.
(2005) Effects of typeface and font size on legibility for children. American Journal of Psychological Research, 1(1), 86–102.Google Scholar
Wright, P., Lickorish, A., & Milroy, R.
(1994) Remembering while mousing: The cognitive costs of mouse clicks. ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 26(1), 41–45. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Yule, V.
(1988) The design of print for children: Sales-appeal and user-appeal. Reading, 22(2), 96–105. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zachrisson, B.
(1965) Studies in the legibility of printed text. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell.Google Scholar