The dispute about sans serif versus serif fonts: An interaction between the variables of serif and stroke contrast

•We investigated if word-identification performance varied as a function of the presence or absence of serifs and low or high letter-stroke contrast.•Sans serif fonts were read at smaller font sizes when they had low stroke contrast•The data for the serif fonts followed the reverse pattern; identifiable at smaller font sizes when they had high stroke contrast.•The study moves away from an often-seen recommendation of specific fonts for reading, towards a recommendation of font characteristics.