Like others have said, serif fonts are *generally* considered more
readable.

However, NSF's decision wasn't based solely on readability. It was based
in large part on establishing equitable parameters.  While NSF does have
the goal of the proposals being easily readable by the reviewers, they
also have a goal of establishing parameters that are equitable to all
proposers.  This created several situations:
1) They had to choose fonts that were available (and free) across
multiple formats (PC, Mac, LaTex).
2) They had to choose fonts that were generally readable (if not the
*most* readable, they had to have good readability).  And
3) They had to choose fonts that were not easily manipulated. Times and
Times New Roman are very easy to manipulate by changing the kerning,
leading and other font characteristics so that a document that is
*technically* in 10pt font is now holding as many characters as an 8-9
pt font; this not only decreases the readability, but also gives the
manipulators an advantage over the ones that played strictly by the
rules (they can fit more info into their 15 pages).

My above analysis comes from discussions from multiple NSF policy office
representatives.

Hollie Schreiber
Proposal Development Specialist
College of Arts & Sciences
206 LSE
Stillwater, OK  74078
(405) 744-8458
(405) 744-3285 fax

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On
Behalf Of Robert Bienkowski
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 1:30 PM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] NSF font issues

There has been a lot of research on readability of fonts, and you can
start tapping into it by doing a Google search.
While the research supports the common wisdom that serifed fonts are
generally easier to read, readability depends on the context and the
medium.
There was a very instructive article in last Sunday's NY Times magazine
about readability of - I'm not kidding - readability of fonts on highway
signs.
ONE UNIVERSAL CONCLUSION FROM THE RESEARCH, HOWEVER, IS THAT USING ALL
CAPITALS  DECREASES READABILITY. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

bOB bIENKOWSKI
--
Robert S Bienkowski, PhD
xxxxxx@att.net

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Bill Campbell <xxxxxx@UWRF.EDU>
>
> When I first started in this business, I heard Lynn Miner say in a
> proposal-writing workshop that 'reading research shows that 80% of
> readers find serif fonts easier to read than sans-serif.'  That
matches
> my own experience, so I've repeated it to countless proposal-writers.

> But now I wonder, is this like the David Bauer reference discussed
> earlier?
>
> In any case, as an ED reader, I appreciate serif fonts, especially
when
> time is tight, the light is dim, or it's the fifth proposal I've read
> that day. In those situations, a proposal written in Arial--or worse,
> Arial Narrow--annoys me. The last thing a proposal-writer wants is an
> annoyed reader.
>
> Regards, Bill
>
>
>
> Bill Campbell
>
> Director, Grants & Research
>
> University of Wisconsin-River Falls
>
> 410 S. 3rd St.
>
> River Falls, WI 54022
>
> 715/425-3195
>
> FAX 715/425-0649
>
>
>
>
>
> Ruth Tallman wrote:
> > Hello All,
> >
> > If this has come up before, please forgive me.  I'm working on a
> > proposal to NSF and the PI has just told me:
> >
> > "Almost all technical manuscripts are written in either Times or
Times
> > Roman. These are serif fonts and are the default fonts also used in
> > virtually all mathematical equation software. To convert equations
to
> > a sans serif font, like Arial or Helvetica, is insane and won't look

> > very good. How are Greek letters supposed to be done, i.e., is
Symbol
> > font one of the permitted fonts?"
> >
> > Has anyone submitted a proposal in which the mathematical equations
> > are in Times Roman?  Do you have any tips for PI's with lots of
> > formula's in their proposal?
> >
> > Your feedback will be appreciated!
> >
> > Ruth Tallman
> > --
> >
> >
> >           /Confidentiality Notice: This message and any attachments
to
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receive
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> >           attachments to this message should be strictly on a
> >           need-to-know basis. You should consider the confidential
> >           nature of the information before disseminating,
distributing
> >           or copying this material. Thank you./
> >
> >
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