How To Make Any Font Feel As Easy To Read As Comic Sans | NaNoWriMo Tips & Tricks

TL;DR

Writing your first draft in Comic Sans can hack your brain into making writing easier due to the font's characteristics, but you can achieve the same effect with any font by adjusting the number of characters per line.

Transcript

It's national novel writing month again, and  everyone is looking for ideas to increase   their writing speed. One trick that's recently  become popular is to write your first draft in   comic sans, because somehow the font seems to  hack your brain into making writing easier. Why   does it work? Some believe that the handwritten  letters somehow m... Read More

Key Insights

• 📝 Writing in comic sans has become popular for increasing writing speed as it supposedly makes the words easier to digest and disarms the inner critic.
• 📘 Readability of text is influenced by the number of characters per line, with the sweet spot being between 50 and 60 characters, similar to a print novel.
• 🖥️ Many websites and applications do not consider readability, with long lines of text causing difficulty in focus and comprehension.
• 🔤 Comic sans at 11 points contains 75 to 85 characters per line, similar to a print novel, while other fonts like Arial require increased font size for the same effect.
• ️ Google Docs on Windows renders comic sans thinner, affecting the font's impact on readability.
• 📖 The advantage of comic sans varies for people with dyslexia, with the ease of reading affected by character spacing and number of characters per line.
• ✉️ To ensure easy readability in important emails, use plain text mode in Gmail, which limits the maximum characters per line to 70.
• 💡 The trick of using specific fonts and line width can improve readability and writing speed, but it is still acceptable to dislike comic sans.

Questions & Answers

Q: Why does writing your first draft in Comic Sans help increase your writing speed?

Writing your first draft in Comic Sans can help increase your writing speed due to various reasons. Some believe that the handwritten letters make the words easier to digest, while others speculate that the font's ugliness subconsciously disarms your inner critic. However, the real reason behind the font's effectiveness lies in the ideal number of characters per line, which Comic Sans possesses.

Q: How can you achieve the same effect with other fonts?

While there is nothing inherently special about Comic Sans, you can achieve the same effect with other fonts by adjusting the number of characters per line. Research suggests that the sweet spot for readability lies between 50 and 60 characters per line, with an upper limit of 75 characters. By selecting a font that allows for a similar number of characters per line, you can replicate the benefits of writing in Comic Sans.

Q: Why do magazines and newspapers break their text into columns?

Magazines and newspapers break their text into columns to fit more words onto larger pages. By using columns, they can make effective use of the available space without overwhelming readers with long rows of tiny text. This formatting choice ensures that readers can comfortably read and engage with the content.

Q: How does the width of lines affect reading comprehension?

The width of lines has a significant impact on reading comprehension. If lines have too few characters, the text appears too vertical, making it challenging to establish a reading flow. Conversely, if lines have too many characters, each line becomes too long, causing mental exhaustion. Research indicates that the ideal number of characters per line falls between 50 and 60, similar to the number found in a typical print novel.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Writing your first draft in Comic Sans has become popular as it helps increase writing speed.

• The font's handwritten letters and subconsciously disarming effect may aid in making writing easier.

• The real reason behind its effectiveness is that Comic Sans has an ideal number of characters per line, which can be replicated with other fonts.