Legibility is the ease with which text can be read (dependent upon formatting regardless of content). It is sometimes confused with readability, which is the ease with which a text can be understood (dependent upon the content, regardless of formatting).
Legibility refers to how well a glyph can be recognized.
Legibility is affected by many factors, some of which are:
- font-size
- the font (typeface) used and its specific characteristics
- typesetting, for example kerning or line-height
- materials, color or backgrounds used in conjunction with the text
- anti-aliasing (in screen displays)