The purpose of this up-to-date and well-documented paper is to review empirical studies on the factors that affect the readability of computer screens. It concentrates on research into presentation factors that influence the reading of complex, realistic displays of text. The authors focus on the readability, rather than the legibility, of text on computer screens. (They use “legibility” to refer to the identification of individual characters, and “readability” for the reading of words and sentences.)

This paper is divided into five sections. The first section describes research that has compared the readability of computer screens and paper. The next four sections discuss research on features of the screen that may affect the readability of text: the character set, the formatting of the screen, the contrast and color of the characters and background, and the dynamic aspects of the text.

This review of research results will help practitioners evaluate the guidelines they are currently using and determine the limitations of the available evidence. By concentrating on what has been found in experimental investigations of readability, areas for further research can be established.

The difficulty of writing such a paper is considerable, due to both the large number of references and the synthetic effort required from the authors. The comparative study of paper versus screen readability at the end of the paper must therefore be highly appreciated.