Dyslexie - finally a font for dyslexia that works

Dyslexie is a font that aims to overcome some of the problems that people with dyslexia can have when reading. Due to the way their brains process visual information, they will often subconsciously switch, rotate and mirror letters, making it harder to recognise the characters.
It is thought that their brains start treating two-dimensional letters as three-dimensional objects that can be freely manipulated.
When this happens, the letter “b” can look like a “d”… or a “p” or a “q”. It is easy to see why this can quickly become confusing.
“Traditionally in typeface design, there are ‘rules’ that say it is best to make the letters as uniform as possible,” says Boer, now 36. “If you make the arch of an “h” the same as an “n”, it produces a typeface that is clean and quiet for ordinary readers. For me, these letters become three dimensional so you can turn them around and they begin to look alike. What I wanted to do was to slap these 3D letters flat.”

Unlike many traditional typefaces, the Dyslexie font is strongly asymmetric. Instead of keeping the letters a uniform size, some have longer “sticks” that help to make them stand out more in words. Similarly, letters that look alike, such as “v”, “w” and “y”, vary in their height when they are typed.
The shapes of the letters are also asymmetric, with the top of a “b” being narrower than the top of a “d”, making them easier to distinguish.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:OpenDyslexic Font, Ubuntu Linux

r ranson wrote:

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:OpenDyslexic Font, Ubuntu Linux

It looks like the same font under a different name.

Ron Helwig wrote:

r ranson wrote:

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:OpenDyslexic Font, Ubuntu Linux

It looks like the same font under a different name.

Nope. I personally know Abbie Gonzalez. His wife is dyslexic, and he couldn't stand that Dyslexie was for pay so he built OpenDyslexic on his own. He even got an e-book maker to add it to their tablet so his wife could enjoy reading again. Really good guy. He's been through some tough times so any voluntary donations headed his way would be nice. Oh, and his son is a huge Trekkie.

r ranson wrote:Dyslexie font is a special font developed and designed for people with dyslexia to make reading, learning and working easier – and more fun.


I discovered this font in a bbc article  

Dyslexie is a font that aims to overcome some of the problems that people with dyslexia can have when reading. Due to the way their brains process visual information, they will often subconsciously switch, rotate and mirror letters, making it harder to recognise the characters.
It is thought that their brains start treating two-dimensional letters as three-dimensional objects that can be freely manipulated.
When this happens, the letter “b” can look like a “d”… or a “p” or a “q”. It is easy to see why this can quickly become confusing.
“Traditionally in typeface design, there are ‘rules’ that say it is best to make the letters as uniform as possible,” says Boer, now 36. “If you make the arch of an “h” the same as an “n”, it produces a typeface that is clean and quiet for ordinary readers. For me, these letters become three dimensional so you can turn them around and they begin to look alike. What I wanted to do was to slap these 3D letters flat.”

Unlike many traditional typefaces, the Dyslexie font is strongly asymmetric. Instead of keeping the letters a uniform size, some have longer “sticks” that help to make them stand out more in words. Similarly, letters that look alike, such as “v”, “w” and “y”, vary in their height when they are typed.
The shapes of the letters are also asymmetric, with the top of a “b” being narrower than the top of a “d”, making them easier to distinguish.

As a person with strong dyslexia, I find the written word a struggle.  With technology, I can communicate (thank you Grammarly for making a spell check that can actually figure out what word I'm trying to write)... but reading is still difficult.  This is why I'm so excited to discover this new font.

The samples I've seen of Dyslexie are very easy to read.  So I'm going to subscribe and try it out.  It looks like they have a plugin for chrome, which is where most of my trouble is these days.  

You can find more information on Dyslexie and how to download it here