[ethan]

>I wonder if there are other factors which can be used to determine whether one font is "better" than another?

I can't find them, but a lot of studies were done on type legibility when Hoefler Frere-Jones redesigned the typeface for the US interstate signage system. They made a lot of interesting findings, such as a word with an inital cap followed by lowercase was more legible than all caps or all lowercase; or that lowercase 'L's are more easily read when they have a small hook at the bottom, as opposed to jut being a straight line.

[tesseract]

I don't think it was H&FJ. http://clearviewhwy.com/, http://www.meekerdesigns.com/