APHont: A Font for Low Vision Users


APHont® (pronounced Ay’-font), was developed by APH specifically for low vision readers. APHont embodies characteristics that have been shown to enhance reading speed, comprehension, and comfort for large print users.

Why install a special font for low vision? It has slightly altered letters which are easier to tell apart - the dot above the lowercase “i” is larger than normal for example, and the tail on the “q” curves to the right. I find APHont much easier to read than Ariel or any other font. Here are several images showing the font, click on the pictures to access the larger versions:

Alphabet and numerals from APHont

Letter combinations in APHont.

Example sentence in APhont.

APHont is not an OS X specific product, it is actually distributed as an exe file. To use it, you will have to open the aphont.exe file with Stuffit Expander. This may already be on your computer - Mac computers are frequently sold with it pre-installed, or you can download and install Stuffit Expander yourself if needed. You will end up with a folder called aphont.exe Folder which contains a readme.txt file and four font files. To install the font simply open the four font files by any of the usual methods - double-click on them, select the files and press command-o, or select the files and right click to open the context menu and select ‘open’ from there.

Website: APHont: A Font for Low Vision

- Ricky Buchanan

Post to Twitter Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Ping.fm Post to StumbleUpon

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

5 Comments For “APHont: A Font for Low Vision Users”

  1. How to use APHont (a special font for people with low vision) on a MAC: http://tinyurl.com/9oerbr

  2. Updated post about APHont - font specially designed for large print users. Much better example images now: http://is.gd/f1Zq

  3. Updated post about APHont - font specially designed for large print users. Much better example images now: http://is.gd/hkAc

  4. Typography fans: APHont - font for low vision users http://is.gd/hkAc from @atmacjournal

  5. APHont: A Font for Low Vision Users: http://tinyurl.com/9oerbr

Leave a Reply

How Do I Change My Picture?

Blank Avatar

Go to gravatar.com to upload your preferred avatar.

You can use these XHTML tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <strong>