Dyslexia-friendly editor features

What are Dyslexia-Friendly Editor Features?

Novlr includes an optional set of editor adjustments designed to make reading and writing more comfortable for people with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. You can toggle these on from Settings > Preferences > Interface theme, and they work with every theme.

What changes when you turn it on?

1. Atkinson Hyperlegible font: Your editor switches to Atkinson Hyperlegible, a typeface designed by the Braille Institute specifically for legibility. Unlike many fonts, its letters are shaped so that similar characters — like b, d, p, and q — are clearly distinct from one another, and letter combinations like "rn" don't visually collapse into "m". Research consistently shows that sans-serif fonts with distinct letterforms improve reading accuracy for people with dyslexia.
2. Increased letter and word spacing: The editor adds extra space between letters and between words. Studies show this is one of the single highest-impact changes for improving reading speed and accuracy — it reduces visual crowding, which is a core challenge for dyslexic readers.
3. Comfortable line height: Line spacing is increased to 2.0x, giving each line of text more breathing room. This makes it easier to track from the end of one line back to the start of the next without losing your place.
4. Shorter line lengths: The editor column is narrowed so that lines contain roughly 60–70 characters. Long lines make it harder to track back to the start of the next line, which is already a challenge for many readers. Shorter lines reduce this cognitive load.

Does this change my exported manuscript?

No. These are purely visual adjustments that only affect how text appears in the editor. Your manuscript content, formatting, and exports are completely unaffected. If you turn the feature off, everything returns to your normal editor appearance.

How do I turn it on?

Go to Settings > Preferences, and underneath the theme selection, tick "Turn on dyslexia-friendly editor features". The changes take effect immediately in your manuscript editor.

Updated on: 13/04/2026