Peter Burnhill

Typographical problems of journal design.

This paper describes a comparison study of the effectiveness of an article set in the old and in the revised typographical format of Programmed Learning and Educational Technology. The results indicated no significant differences in terms of reading speed, comprehension, scanning scores or preferences. Some implications for journal design and research are considered.

The role of spatial and typographic cues in the layout of journal references.

Abstract Fifteen American and 15 British readers used the method of paired comparisons to assess 12 different ways of presenting reference lists in social science journals. The results indicated — despite British preferences for British styles — that the spatial arrangements of elements in the list was the major determinant of preference, and that the presence of a typographic cue only enhanced a preference for a particular layout.

On the typing of tables

This paper argues the case for left-ranging rather than centred tables and reports the time taken by a typist to type left-ranging and centred tables at three levels of complexity complexity. Considerable savings are shown for left-ranging tables at each level.

Some Observations on Producing and Measuring Readable Writing

Abstract This paper describes (i) how we rewrote a piece of technical text to make it easier to understand, and (ii) how we attempted to measure our success at this task. The purpose of the paper is to chart the difficulties in which we found ourselves and to make the task easier for others who may wish to follow our path.

Tables in text.

Tables were inserted into a four page article, and subjects were asked to scan the text which was printed in a two-column or a single-column format. The single-column format was scanned significantly faster than the double-column layout, and there were marked reader preferences for the single-column layout.

A selected bibliography of typographical research relevant to the production of instructional materials

In preparing this bibliography of research in typography relevant to the design of instructional materials we have tried to be comprehensive, but in a limited way. We have tried to make the coverage broad, but to select within different areas only those papers that have comprehensive reference lists, or that have been recently published and thus are not included in other bibliographies. For a complete overview of the field, readers are especially referred to Herbert Spencers (1969) The Visible Word which has a bibliography containing over 400 entries. In this bibliography we have divided the material as follows:

Typographic decision making: the layout of indexes.

The authors have previously published work on typography and the design of instructional materials. This paper reports the application of their approach to the design and layout of a textbook index.

Some Observations on the Reliability of Measures Used in Reading and Typographic Research.

This study assessed the reliability of nine different measures used in reading and typographic research. Test-retest correlations were calculated for university students and schoolchildren, both male and female. It was clear that some measures were more reliable than others: for example, oral reading was highly reliable, but comprehension was not. The results are discussed with reference to the objectives of different types of measure.

Writing Lines: An Exploratory Study.

Abstract This article describes some preliminary investigations into the effects of lined and unlined paper on the organisation of the written work of young children. Illustrations are provided to show the marked effects of lines. The handwriting policy of the schools concerned changed as a result of the investigation.

The Effects of Interline Space on Judgments of Typesize

Abstract The apparent size of a typeface was judged by 14 subjects, in a paragraph printed with different interline spacing. The results indicated that for half the subjects the amount of interline space did not affect their judgment of a given typesize but that the remaining subjects tended to report that a typesize set with additional interline space appeared to be larger than the same size of type set with the minimum possible line space.