The typeface, the text size and the colors in your child's books are set by you, on their Settings page, in the card called "How it looks". Your child can change other things about the page inside a book, such as the paper and the spacing, but not these.
To find the card, go to Readers, choose your child, open "Settings" and scroll to "How it looks". Make your changes and press "Save".
Typeface
"Typeface" offers three:
- Lexend, the default. Of the three, it has the strongest evidence behind it.
- Atkinson Hyperlegible.
- OpenDyslexic.
We offer Atkinson Hyperlegible and OpenDyslexic because some readers prefer them. The research does not show that OpenDyslexic improves reading, so we do not claim that it does. If your child finds one of them more comfortable, that is a good enough reason to use it.
Text size
"Text size" has four steps: "Normal", "Bigger", "Much bigger" and "Biggest". Biggest is half as large again as Normal.
Colours
"Colours" has two choices: "Usual" and "Easier to tell apart". The second keeps colors distinct for a reader who cannot tell red from green, which matters most where a color gives an answer.
Less movement
"Less movement" turns off page turns and other animation. If your child's device is already set to reduce motion, we follow that anyway, whether or not this switch is on. The three settings above apply inside books; this one applies across your child's screens.
Why your child cannot change these
The typeface and text size are your decision. A second control inside the book could quietly undo it, and you would have two places to check when something looked wrong, so these settings live in one place, with you.
What your child can change inside a book
Inside a book, your child can open a sheet called "How this looks" and change things about that screen:
- Paper: Cream, White, Mist, Peach, Mint, Sky, Sand or Night.
- Space between lines: Normal, Roomy or Airy.
- Space between words: Normal, Wide or Widest.
- Night light: At bedtime, On or Off.
- Line marker, a bar under the line they are reading.
- Fade the rest, which keeps the sentence being read aloud bright and quietens the others.
The sheet also has two sound switches, "Quiet sounds behind the story" and "Page-turn sound". In a book with a recorded voice, it adds "Stop reading aloud after".
These choices are kept in the browser on that device, not in your account. Everyone who reads in that browser shares them, and a different tablet starts with the usual settings. Paper, spacing and the night light explains each one.
The warm, dim page at bedtime follows the bedtime you set on their Safety page. See Time limits and bedtime.
More on accessibility
Highlighted words are also underlined, so your child does not need to see the color to follow along. Accessibility describes what else we do, and what we do not claim.
If a setting does not seem to take effect, close the book and open it again. If that does not help, ask us from Help in your dashboard.