Response to Chapter 4

I love the idea that our brains barely even read the word, but process the shape of the word. For instance, we know that the word, shape, has an S like curve to its traceable shape. This also reminds me of how the human brain only processes the first and last letter of a word. The other letters can be scrambled and we will still recognize it with ease.
I never realized how much line length plays a factor in legibility. When I followed the example in the book, I realized that I was able to to pay more attention to the message when reading two columns as opposed to one. I will keep that in mind when dealing with massive amounts of information. Reading the section about reader preference in regards to tracking, I prefer words to be equidistant, not justified, and I prefer the smaller space, like the "r" instead of the "o" width.
I was relieved to learn that there is a rhyme and a reason to the decision-making involved in color legibility. Too often people simply choose the colors they like for websites and posters, and too often those colors do not make for easy reading and are painful to even try. I was also fascinated to learn that contrast is not the only factor, and that hue decides legibility in terms of reading endurance.
I did not know that the fonts more commonly used online were first bit-mapped and then outlined. I always thought all fonts started out pixelated and then with increasing technology were smoothed out. That explains why so few texts look good on web pages, especially at low resolution. They simply weren't built for it.
It is interesting and frustrating, as a newly budding typographer, to read about common visual cliches, because while I have seen them, I have never used them, so they don't feel like cliches. It will be a challenge to be creative and innovative, because people before me have overuse so many would-be options.