ATV
Closed Captioning
We tested three different fonts: Helvetica, Times, and Monaco. We included Helvetica because it is a popular sans serif font, and Times because it is a popular serif font. We included Monaco because we wanted something similar to today's captions for which no "font" exists. Monaco is similar to current captioning because it is a sans-serif, monospaced font. Although most of the captions we tested were in mixed case, we elected to use Monaco in all upper case so that it would look more like current captions.
The Helvetica font was the clear choice of participants. Participants praised its clarity and simplicity. Most participants felt that Times was too "busy" or "crowded". This was due in large part to the serifs, although some felt that another serif font may have worked. Most of the participants felt that Monaco was too large. This may have been because the letters were all uppercase. The poor response to Monaco indicates that it was not an effective approximation of today's captioning, after all.
The vast majority of the participants preferred captions in mixed case. Although current closed captions are all upper case, participants feel that mixed case is more natural and grammatical.
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Font Style
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All
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Deaf
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HoH
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Hearing
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Men
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Women
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Under 50
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Over 50
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No PC
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Helvetica
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7.9
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7.8
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7.8
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8.0
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7.6
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8.1
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7.7
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8.1
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8.1
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Monaco
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5.3
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5.7
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5.0
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5.1
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5.7
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5.1
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5.6
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4.9
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5.4
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Times
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4.9
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4.2
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5.8
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5.1
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5.3
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4.7
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4.6
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5.3
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6.3
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HELVETICA (Figure 4)
It was very nice. Soothing. Easy to read.
It was more even. I like that. I still feel like I'm seeing a lot of white.
That was comfortable. The font could have been a little more crisp. I like it much better than the other [Monaco].
I liked that much better. The ease of reading and minimizing eye strain are most important.
Perfectly readable. I like the grammaticality of it. It's so important for captioning to communicate correctly.
MONACO (Figure 5)
They were easy to read but it was too big. The space is wasted. I liked mixed case. I am not that crazy about all capitals. It looks very square.
I prefer mixed case. The capitals are unfriendly like someone shouting.
I've never seen that kind of lettering before. I wouldn't pick that one. But I prefer all capitals. Upper case can look more even and not shift your eye gaze.
They're different. I like all capitals like on (current) TV.
I didn't like all capitals. I don't like reading captions written like that. It removes capital "highlighting" (i.e. CIA).
Very sharp, very clear. very easy to read. I wasn't even aware that it was all capitals. It didn't occur to me. I think all capitals would be easier to read for a long time.
It's easy to read with the all capitals. Stylistically, I like the one before [Helvetica]. I prefer mixed case. It's more like the way I normally read.
TIMES (Figure 6)
It's a rotten serif font. It's not as readable because the letters have different weights (different parts of each letter.) Rockland is very readable.
These are not that wonderful for me. Hard to read. The letter "e". The uniformity is less. Constricted. I would prefer a more simple font without the curls.
Too fancy. Simplicity is the best way to go. This pushed the words closer together.
Too busy, too intricate.
The previous one [Helvetica] is better for easy following. This is more difficult to read quickly. My eyes notice it too much.
I don't like this as much. Maybe if it were bigger, the serifs would work better. But, I don't want it bigger and is too hard to read.
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