Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China.
Ergonomics. 2012;55(11):1316-30. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2012.714472. Epub 2012 Aug 17.
This experiment investigated the influence of four display factors, viz. typeface (Ming Liu and Jheng Hei), font size (10-point and 14-point), text direction (horizontal and vertical) and copy placement (left-right and top-bottom) on Chinese proofreading performance and subjective preferences. Proofreading performance was measured in terms of time and accuracy, and preferences were examined in terms of comfort, ease and fatigue. It was found that the horizontal text direction resulted in faster proofreading than the vertical one, but the other three factors were non significant. The faster proofreading using the horizontal text direction was valid for both the left-right and the top-bottom arrangements. There was an interaction between typeface and font size such that, for the smaller character size (10-point), the Ming Liu style produced a faster performance than the Jheng Hei style. However, for the larger character size (14-point), the Jheng Hei style produced a faster performance than the Ming Liu style. Regarding proofreading accuracy, the number of non-detected missing words and related false alarm in left-right copy placement setting was significantly larger than that in top-down setting. Greater accuracy was obtained in proofreading at the cost of a speed-accuracy trade-off--the higher the accuracy in the proofreading task, the longer the proofreading time. Font size and text direction had significant effects on proofreading preferences, but typeface and copy placement did not. Practitioner Summary: This study examined four display factors on Chinese proofreading performance and subjective preferences. The findings of this experiment provide information and recommendations that should prove useful for the design of proofreading interfaces to improve proofreading time and accuracy, and to satisfy proofreaders' preference.
本实验研究了四种显示因素对中文校对绩效和主观偏好的影响，分别为字体（明流和正黑）、字号（10 点和 14 点）、文本方向（水平和垂直）和副本位置（左右和上下）。校对绩效的衡量标准是时间和准确性，而偏好则通过舒适度、易读性和疲劳度来检验。研究结果表明，水平文本方向的校对速度快于垂直文本方向，但其他三个因素则不显著。对于左右和上下两种排列方式，水平文本方向的更快校对速度均成立。字体和字号之间存在交互作用，即对于较小的字号（10 点），明流字体的表现速度快于正黑字体。然而，对于较大的字号（14 点），正黑字体的表现速度快于明流字体。关于校对准确性，在左右副本位置设置中，未检测到缺失单词的数量和相关误报的数量明显大于上下副本位置设置。通过牺牲速度准确性权衡来获得更高的准确性——在校对任务中，准确性越高，校对时间越长。字号和文本方向对校对偏好有显著影响，但字体和副本位置没有。从业者总结：本研究考察了中文校对中四种显示因素对绩效和主观偏好的影响。本实验的研究结果提供了信息和建议，对于设计校对界面以提高校对时间和准确性，以及满足校对员的偏好，应该是有用的。
