The smallest font. Fine print and vision

The interface is a purely individual thing. There will always be a user who is not satisfied with something, because you really want to make your account unusual and non-standard, thereby attracting attention, making new friends who will comment on photos and give “likes”. How to do this?

Just for those “dissatisfied” with the administration of the most popular social network and there are several options for creating a user account. You can opt for the standard blue interface, or you can make your page pre-revolutionary or sports - it all depends on your preferences.

Today we’ll talk about how to change the font on VKontakte different ways. For many, this question is really relevant. It is fair to note that standard font Small in VKontakte. On the one hand, this is justified by the fact that your page contains a lot of information that will be fully visible. On the other hand, users with low vision are extremely unhappy with this. Fortunately, such a problem cannot be called a problem. It's just a matter of a few minutes. And this can be done in several ways.

VKontakte: method 1

Find the “ctrl” key on the keyboard of your computer device and hold it down. With your other hand, start scrolling the mouse wheel. This will help you scale the page to the required size. Just remember that not only text information will increase, but also all materials located here (pictures, videos, photographs).

This method It’s incredibly simple and ideal for those who, at a given moment in time, need to look at something in more detail or read text written in very small font. If you need to constantly work with enlarged text, we recommend that you use the second method.

How to increase the font method 2

The VKontakte administration specifically provided for this. So, go to your page and select “Settings” in the list of categories on the left. Having entered the tab, scroll through it almost to the very end until you reach “Settings” appearance" There, check the box suggesting the use of larger fonts.

It cannot be said that the result of such a simple operation will exceed all your expectations. The font will increase, but not by much. Although for some users this is quite enough.

How to increase the font on VKontakte: method 3

This method involves changing the scale through your browser menu. In fact, it can be considered an analogue of the first method.

If your browser is Chrome, then find the wrench (top right), then the line “Scale”. Here we click the cursor on the “+” icon until we achieve desired result.

If your browser is Mozilla, then find and click the orange (purple) button (top left), then click on “Settings” and “Menu Bar”. There we find “View”, select “Zoom” and, finally, “Enlarge”.

If your browser is Opera, click the button (top left), then “Page” and “Zoom”, which is recommended to be increased to 120-150%.

How to enlarge the font on VKontakte for users It’s also very simple. We go to the browser, look for the gear icon (top right), click on it. In “Settings” we look for a tab called “Add-ons” and check the box next to “The font size is always less than...” We change the current value of 9 to 20, for example, and evaluate the result.

Now you know how to change the font on VKontakte, adapting it as much as possible to your needs and characteristics. Now is the time to change the theme of the page itself. But we'll talk about this another time.

The notorious “fine print” is heartily hated by a huge army of readers, but it is omnipresent - publishers simply adore it.

Inexpressive notes, eye-killing footnotes, instructions that can only be read with a magnifying glass, and even books from the series “What would you like for that kind of money” - all this is him, our hero. Some people are sad to put up with the inevitable, but for a professional, small font is a completely solvable typographic task, although not a pleasant one. The ability to cope with it is a sign of the designer’s literacy and professionalism.

The expression “fine print” itself is conditional, which is why it is put in quotation marks. Technically size(size) is not a characteristic of a font, but from a design point of view, each font still has an optimal size range in which it is better readable. Favorite font size Octave eighth, this is clear from its name (distinction deteriorates in font sizes less than 6-7, and in font sizes more than 12 the typeface seems rough). Majority text headset ( Baltika, Literary, St. Petersburg, Baskerville and Caslon) in all incarnations, Stamp Garamon and other versions close to the original source Garamona, of course, Times Designed for standard book size 10-12. A unique text font Academic has an ornate design and a very small point, as a result of which in 12 point it looks like Times at 10, and at 10 and less it turns into unreadable beads. No less original Sentor(in Cyrillic version Venetian 301) also prefers a slightly enlarged size, because this is a true Venetian serif, quite accurately reproducing the features of the font of Nikolai Jenson, created in 1470, and then books were typed in a larger font.

Loved by everyone last years ITC Oficina perfect in 10 point and sharp (especially ITC Oficina Serif) loses readability when reduced to 7-8. But there is no point in reducing Oficina and this saves up to a third of text space.

ITC Charter — rare example universal font. It can withstand heavy reduction and looks good in large font sizes, even in headlines.

Designed based on fonts typewriters group led by By courier looks best in 12 point, and some are perfectly readable in 10 and even smaller. But there were practically no such typewriters in our country; 12-point font was considered the standard, and publishing houses only accepted manuscripts printed in this way. And here is the result: the eye has become accustomed to a certain size of typewritten font. It seems that now nothing prevents you from printing Yatran any size (at least 13.5), but the reader, especially the older generation, will definitely feel discomfort

All handwritten It is better to print fonts (calligraphic and free-form) in accordance with the size of handwritten letters (14-18 points). In small fonts it will seem that the text was written by some kind of gnome, and it will be difficult to read.

How to choose

Not all fonts, even text ones, can be reduced to 6-7, especially smaller fonts. But if alone ( Academic, Bodoni) protest categorically, then others ( Bannikovskaya, ITC Garamon) are tolerated relatively well. The problem is solved by simply flipping through the catalog and selecting. Experienced layout designers also know some useful patterns. Intuitively, a candidate for the role of fine print must have certain characteristics.

A report by British typographer Mark Barrett at the ATypI conference in Helsinki in September 2005 provides the following rules for constructing or selecting a typeface for use in small point:

The font design should be simple, clear and familiar. Revolutionary forms and design delights are inappropriate.
The font should have increased lowercase characters and wide proportions.
Contrast is relatively weak, approximately 3/4.
Open forms preferable to closed ones.
There are either no serifs at all, or they should be “strengthened”, giving them a simple and even rough shape. The font should not have any details that disappear when reduced.

ITC Garamon, for example, differs from the canonical versions Garamona greatly altered proportions: it has a very large point and smaller, curly stems. Not best font for book layout, but is successfully used for technical purposes in 6-7 font size. Has a large asshole and fairly wide proportions Bitstream Cooper, A ITC Oficina Sans, although it is a grotesque with a large point, does not allow for strong reduction, since it is very narrow. Decreases are even worse tolerated ITC Oficina Serif, this is also prevented by massive bar serifs. Sentor ( Venetian 301) makes it difficult to work in a small font; another font is too light, solemn (by the way, its bold and bold styles are better suited for regular book typesetting than normal). It is unacceptable to use the new style serif in small size. Thin horizontal elements Dido and any versions Bodoni They will literally begin to disappear, the font will become not only illegible, but downright indistinguishable. Against this background, the typeface unexpectedly looks advantageous in small font Bannikovskaya. Created in 1946-51. designer Galina Bannikova, an elegant book font copes with challenging task due to a precisely calibrated, piercing pattern.

The famous French designer, ATypI President Jean-François Porchez, who has extensive experience in designing advanced typefaces for newspapers and magazines, actually highlights next rule building such a headset. Along with the usual rows of styles, differing in saturation and inclination, a kind of axis of display is created, along which the styles change according to their purpose and preferred font size. On this axis you can place fonts for headings, subheadings, standard text and options for very small typing: output data, captions for photographs, editorial apologies and corrections, etc. Prominence consists of several characteristics of the style, as elementary (contrast, proportions) , and more complex ( characteristics drawing).

In Fig. 4 it can be seen that in the days of metal typesetting the type design of different sizes actually varied according to the above rules. This once again it is confirmed that the new is just the well-forgotten old.

In Western European typography, based on Latin alphabet, the question is deeply developed. Advanced headsets(and only they can bring the author commercial success) not only contain text and heading styles, but often include variants specifically for small-point typesetting. Which Latin fonts are best suited for this purpose? According to Barrett: Amplitude(Font Bureau developer) Bell Centennial(Bitstream) Format(Berthold) Frutiger(Linotype), Georgia(Microsoft) Griffith Gothic(Font Bureau) Gulliver(Gerard Unger) Gulliver CPA(Gerard Unger) Neue Helvetica(Linotype), Lucida Fax(Bigelow & Holmes), Lucida Sans(Bigelow and Holmes) Nimrod(Monotype), Poynter Agate(Font Bureau) Swift(Gerard Unger) Verdana(Microsoft) Vesta(Gerard Unger) Weidemann(ITC).

It's a pity that most of list of fonts that do not have adequate Cyrillic versions. One of the pleasant exceptions Verdana. Created by order of Microsoft by one of the best type designers of our time, Matthew Carter, the OpenType format font was designed to support many languages, including Russian. Cyrillic fonts, even those developed by the best foreign authors, often turn out to be not very successful and alien to the Russian graphic tradition, but the drawing Verdans does not cause any complaints even among our most biased connoisseurs of type art. Wide proportions Verdans typical for American text fonts. And Microsoft fonts were developed as screen fonts: this alone, in fact, the solution to the same problem guarantees good legibility in a small size. Everything said in equally also refers to Matthew Carter's second font for Microsoft, Georgia; Although Verdana as the grotesque is still preferable. Because the Verdana and Georgia is present in almost any computer running Windows, you can assume that the simplest solution for small text is always at your fingertips.

Now let's try to compose full list the Cyrillic languages we need fonts. Like all design recommendations, this opinion is not debatable but, hopefully, not useless. Having looked through the font catalogs and keeping the formulated criteria in mind, we can recommend the following Cyrillic typefaces and styles for typing in small font.

Point size 8, 7: Bannikovskaya, Verdana, Georgia, ITC Charter, Bitstream Cooper, ITC Garamon, Octave, Swift, Times (different versions), Melior(in the Cyrillic version of Zapf Elliptical 711), Bell Gothic, ITC Franklin Gothic(except for narrow styles), FreeSet, Accident-Grotesk(Gothic 725), Syntax(Humanist 531), Meta, Pragmatics(except for extra-light and extra-bold styles), Janus.

Point size 6, 5: Bannikovskaya, Verdana, Georgia, ITC Charter, ITC Garamon, Octave, Swift, Melior, FreeSet, Syntax, Meta, Pragmatics(except for extra-light and extra-bold styles).

Point size 4, 3: Verdana, FreeSet normal, FreeSet bold, Pragmatics medium, Pragmatics bold.

Rules for good typography

Let us note a pattern: from a developed font family for small text, as a rule, it is advisable to choose bold and bold styles. And highlighting text fragments is more in bold It is better not to use it in small sizes. It is advisable to either do without any display at all, or use italics, italics or capitals.

In addition to the selection of font, text typed in small font size improves simple rules good typography. Small font does not forgive mistakes: incorrectly chosen leading, inappropriately narrow or wide columns, not to mention such unoriginal design techniques as red text on a black background or embedded textures. If in regular text this simply impairs readability, then in small text you won’t be able to read it at all. But the main thing, on the advice of Master Barrett, where you should always start working on the layout of small text, is to try to convince the customer to give you at least a little more space. Really, wouldn’t it be better to present the information briefly in exchange for a guarantee that the entire text will actually be read?

However, sometimes the customer deliberately resorts to small print because he is not interested in the text being read. It is easy to guess which clauses of agreements, contracts, all kinds of obligations and guarantees this applies to. This requirement is not difficult to fulfill; it is enough to know the rules for layout of small text and do the opposite. Probably, tobacco companies would really like the notorious inscription “The Ministry of Health warns”, made in light, narrow Bodoni in font size no more than 7. Fortunately, here the law guards not only health, but also the rules of good typography.

Literature:

Jean François Porchez: Fonts Don't Come From Nothing. - Report at the ATypI-2005 conference.
Mark Barratt: No Room! No Room! — Report at the ATypI-2005 conference.

Magazines are freely available.

What is the minimum font size?
Are the letters of the Russian alphabet still recognized?

13px:
9px: A fly landed on the jam, and that’s the whole poem.
6px: A fly landed on the jam, and that’s the whole poem.
5px: A fly landed on the jam, and that’s the whole poem.

Words typed in small print can be guessed by their simple letters: U, O, T...

Let's take a closer look at the five-pixel font:

So, the first estimate showed that 4 pixels in height is enough to read Russian text with difficulty, but still.
Where does 4 pixels come from? → 3 pixels + leader (1 pixel) for letters such as P, U, L...

Easy to read letters

In order for the letters to be read without any questions, you need to space adjacent strokes from each other by at least one pixel. Using the letters E (3 horizontal strokes) and Ш (4 vertical strokes) we determine minimum height and width:

Microfonts use translucency to save size, or change the classic letter shapes:

The translucent stroke of the letter E allowed us to reduce its height by 1 pixel (it can be reduced by 2). But now we will do without these chips (for the purity of the experiment), however, we will have to neglect the stroke of the letter Ш (this is the widest letter).

We get the minimum letter size: 5x5 pixels. Let's draw a test alphabet:

The letters can be drawn in different ways, but it is obvious that the 5x5 size can be kept within, and at the same time there is even freedom to stylize the font.

On the Spectrum (the computer from my childhood), the letters fit into an 8x8 square (their actual size was 6x6, so as not to stick together). Dozens of unique fonts have been created in this small format. Oh, nostalgia 😃

By the way, another trick: capital letters instead of lowercase ones (and vice versa). For example, lowercase d less than capital. I had to use lowercase in the font I just drew. th: otherwise the top “bird” wouldn’t fit.

A bit of information theory

There are 33 letters in total in the Russian alphabet, but writing also requires, at a minimum, numbers and punctuation marks. For example, in a 2x3 rectangle you can fit 2 6 = 64 different characters, and this number is enough to convey our set of letters, numbers and signs. These fictitious symbols will be completely different from Russian letters:

By the way, a 5x5 pixel canvas allows you to create 33,554,432 different symbols.

Redundancy of language

In pursuit of micro-size, you can completely abandon complex letters(or depict them exaggeratedly). The Russian language is great and powerful, and also quite redundant: words with loss of symbols are determined based on the context.

In the State Duma of the Russian Federation and legal circles, there is an ongoing debate about prohibiting or allowing the use of small print in various contracts and instructions. Supporters of the ban even appeal to sanitary standards, arguing that footnotes and comments written in unreadable font are harmful to health.

A bill on this topic was already submitted for discussion to deputies several years ago, but the Duma rejected it. However, they are trying to put the initiative to a vote again, passing it through one of the regional parliaments. Moreover, the Russian Government does not abandon the advisability of “putting things in order with fonts.” As stated in the official commentary on the letter with the initiative: “ Specified offers are aimed at establishing an additional guarantee to ensure the consumer’s right to receive necessary information about the manufacturer (performer, seller) and about goods (works, services) in a visual and accessible form, as well as reducing the risk of misleading the consumer when concluding transactions.” But the bill never went to the table, ostensibly because additional research into the problem, discussion and refinement of all the proposed amendments are required.

Small and difficult to read font, which does not allow the consumer to fully familiarize themselves with the information, is a long-standing technique of those who are trying to deceive the consumer, or rather, to protect themselves from possible claims on his part. This is what we are counting on. The explanation is simple - everything, they say, was written down in the contract, and if you couldn’t read it, or didn’t even notice these few “fateful” lines, then it’s your fault and there’s no one to complain to. But should a person carry a magnifying glass with him in order to be able to see what is written in the contract, but is not visible to the naked eye?

Small print not only makes it difficult to read this or that article of an agreement, contract, instruction, preventing the consumer from becoming familiar with them in full, which, according to experts, is misleading, prevents them from making the right choice and affects the assessment of the terms of the transaction. According to the chairman public chamber consumers “Public Control” by Vsevolod Vishnevetsky only those service providers who deliberately try to mislead their clients resort to such methods of document preparation.

“It is necessary to establish at the legislative level the minimum font size used in any contracts with consumers. It should be no less than the eighth pin, in my opinion. When a consumer enters into a contractual relationship with any organization, he must have a complete and clear understanding of the subject of the contract, all its nuances or pitfalls. The fact that some of the documents are deliberately typed in small print, which is difficult to read even with glasses, is a direct violation of Article No. 10 of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights, where the service provider or seller is obliged to provide the consumer with all information about the product or service.”

Such tricks on the part of “cunning” banks, financial organizations and similar offices are designed for amateurs. In contracts between legal entities they rarely resort to small print because there is no point in it. Lawyers from serious companies will study any material thoroughly and carefully, regardless of the readability of the documents. But an ordinary Russian, especially an older one, is accustomed to trusting official structures, reads the contract hastily, inattentively, without delving into the essence of individual wording and figures, especially with regard to the financial side of the contract. Moreover, documents often use wording that forces even experienced lawyers to carefully think and check what they read in order to figure out what nuances the document’s author meant by this, so how can an ordinary person understand all these legal subtleties.

“As a rule, by using fine print, unscrupulous sellers of a product or service, a financial institution or a bank, deliberately mislead a person, hiding from him part of the conditions, which, as a rule, are beneficial only to the supplier of the service or product, and not to the consumer. By the way, the problem concerns not only loan agreements, but also information on the packaging of a product, which cannot be correctly perceived, and this, too, is a violation of consumer rights. In appropriate technical regulations The Customs Union only stipulates that information must be readable, but the level of this very readability is not defined. Some of the inscriptions cannot be read even with glasses.”

Despite the fact that fine print rarely becomes an issue judicial trial, there are already precedents. True, this mainly concerns bringing to administrative liability in the field of violation of consumer rights or advertising legislation. Lawyers in arbitration courts, when considering such cases, refer to Sanitary rules and standards. So in the document on “Hygienic requirements for book publications for adults SanPiN 1.2.1253-03”, which also includes design standards business documentation, any agreements and contracts, everything hygienic requirements strictly prescribed for printing. According to them, any texts in such documents must be printed in a font that ensures “readability of the text, without leading to an increase in visual load when reading, the development of visual and general fatigue.” So, when presenting official documents The font size, that is, the letter size, cannot be less than 7 in a standard computer layout. Unfortunately, it is still impossible to counteract the abuses of banks that print their contracts in small print by legal means. Despite the fact that the bank, by ordering the printing of agreements in small print from a printing house, violates the requirements of SanPiN.

The Law of the Russian Federation “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” dated February 7, 1992 No. 2300-1 clearly states that “the consumer has the right to receive the necessary and reliable information about services that enable them the right choice. Information about the terms of service must be provided in writing and provide the ability to read text without using technical means“, the requirement to reflect the necessary information in loan agreements is aimed at ensuring the rights of a consumer who does not have special knowledge in the banking sector.” But for the courts, these provisions, as it turned out, are a sufficient argument for terminating contracts or paying compensation in favor of consumers. Although the same Civil Code provides that any transaction may be declared invalid if it was made under the influence of a mistake. But assessing the extent of such a misconception and how much it influenced the person who signed the agreement is quite problematic. But, according to Vsevolod Vishnevetsky, it will be extremely difficult to prove that you are right to the consumer.

“It is useless to go to court with such claims, since the font size is not prescribed anywhere by law. You can require the bank to rewrite the agreement readable font, but, most likely, he will refuse, since, in fact, the bank does not violate any laws, the same applies to possible lawsuits against unscrupulous financial organizations, since, I repeat, there is no law governing the readability of any fonts in documents and contracts.” .

Lawyer Denis Laktionov is even more categorical in his assessment of the situation.

“Fine print in contracts is a form of breach of trust. In fact, this is the most common scam on the part of banks. But until the law is passed state level, the consumer does not have any effective tool to influence the situation. As soon as the initiative is approved, lawyers and the consumer himself will have every reason to declare that the law is being violated, which means that it will be possible to challenge or invalidate a certain loan agreement that runs counter to legally accepted norms.”

In the Law “On Consumer Credit (Loan),” which was considered by State Duma deputies since 2008 and was adopted only in 2016, fine print was not completely eliminated, but it was banned in the most important and “sensitive” points for the borrower. The document states that the loan amount and the full cost of the loan must be included in the agreement “ in capital letters black on a white background in a clear, easily readable font of the maximum size used on this page.”

Today, most ordinary people have a rather superficial, if not negligent, attitude towards contracts that they hastily “wave” with their signature. Moreover, it does not matter whether it is a purchase and sale agreement, a loan agreement or an employment contract. Of course, the widespread legal illiteracy of the population and the banal carelessness of the ordinary Russian are both to blame for this; however, the law must still guarantee the rights of the consumer, no matter how careless the latter may be.

Artem Andriyanov

It is believed that it is necessary to protect vision from unfavorable factors, one of which is fine print.

We are used to thinking that reading the fine print and good vision- incompatible

However, there is an opposite opinion.

William Bates states that eye strain is caused by mental stress and negative emotions.

The eyes get tired most of all when looking at new objects. .

A state of stress and tension leads to refractive errors (, and). Therefore it is important to maintain positive attitude and use your vision in a calm state.

Relaxed eyes are able to read small print without discomfort , since small letters are perceived more easily by the retinal nerves than large ones.

It should be noted that reading a line written in small print requires the same amount of effort as reading a single word in large print.

Based on research on the impact different fonts on the vision of schoolchildren, no connection was found between reading small print and deterioration in children’s vision. Child psychologists say that reading small print is more beneficial than reading large print. The eyes suffer not from the size of the letters, but from the improper use of their capabilities when eye muscles work "through force". For this reason, blood circulation and nutrition of eye tissues are disrupted.

The benefits of small print

At proper operation visual apparatus even in unfavorable conditions the eyes do not get tired.

IN modern research talks about the benefits of changing lighting for the retinal nerves and reading small print in dim light. This is due to the fact that to read text with small print in poor lighting and a short distance from the eyes, vision must be relaxed.

If you manage not to strain your eyes under these conditions, then reading large characters in bright light will not require great effort, and therefore does not cause eye fatigue.

Reading fine print is essential in the treatment and prevention of visual impairment.