STUDIES IN DISPLAY SYMBOL LEGIBILITY, PART VIII: LEGIBILITY OF COMMON FIVE-LETTER WORDS

The report describes the findings of a study in symbol legibility which investigated the reading time and errors for common five-letter words when they are projected by a solid stroke and when they are shown by a broken stroke. The latter was produced on a 945-line T monitor at 10, 7, and 5 active lines per symbol height. With visual size, brightness, contrast, and other viewing conditions controlled, the best reading performance resulted from solid-stroke letters. Broken-stroke letters constructed by resolution of 10, 7, and 5 lines resulted in progressively poorer performances.