I’ve recently taken time to do research on font design for impaired readers. Specifically those with dyslexia.

I’ve also updated the DAW Chart, and FreeBees list.

I’ve also changed the general site design to be a bit more responsive, and slightly asymmetrical. Overall readability and navigability should be improved.

UPDATE

CHANGE REVERTED.

I received no response after this change, and I simply don’t like reading the font.

Typography for the typographically challenged

I’ve recently taken time to do research on font design for impaired readers. Specifically those with dyslexia.

After a day of browsing references, articles, design documents and op-ed pieces I decided that this simple analysis provided a cogent idea that appears to be supported by conventional advice.

The result is that I’ve changed the primary font on this site to CMU Sans Serif.

It might look strange at first, but it should improve readability for both impaired and non-impaired readers. That also includes visually impaired readers, as CMU Sans Serif has nearly everything generally recommended for the visually impaired.

Along with the change in font face, I’ve increased the font size to improve readability.

I’ve designed the site to be usable for those that are using screen readers and assisted computing software, however I believe that I need to update myself on the current standards that are utilized for those readers. If you are reading this and have resources on the topic, please let me know.

Meanwhile I have added some subtle visual indicators in places to help people identify actionable elements.

DAWs for the chart challenged

Updated for Bitwig 3.

Updated for other DAW versions.

Fragility values have been inverted. This makes using the weighting system more useful.

A Modularity category has been added. This may be expanded in the future to be more granular.

I’m still unsure of how to improve scoring subcategories.

Freebees for the money challenged

Freebees update with the QRange plugin. Rather curious product that could be worth a review in the future.

The author of this plugin has a history of making decent copies of plugins from companies that utilize ridiculous hype for their products, and this result is pretty solid in that regard.

Meta

The product of these efforts took 16 hours of research and implementation to come to fruition.