Comments | geek_girl_talk: The Great Font Debate

myrrhlynn in geek_girl_talk

The Great Font Debate

Jun 18, 2010 17:15

I don't have many discussion topics yet so I figured I'd add one on a topic that is near and dear to my heart (or to say it another way, a topic I am stubborn about). It's the debate about if Serif or Sans-Serif is a better choice for on the web. I know it's a debate for print media as well, but only rare ocassions do I pick up an actual paper ( Read more... )

fonts, geeky rant

Comments 5

Interesting km_shea June 18 2010, 22:37:06 UTC

That's interesting, that reading on the screen is easier with sans serif.

I know for print media, especially for books, Times New Roman is the standard because it's the easist to read when printed. That's why any book publisher/editor REQUIRES you to send it in Times New Roman.

o.o I wonder what makes the difference. Pixels I suppose?

aerysa June 19 2010, 00:35:04 UTC

I'm with you Myrrh! Down with Times New Roman!! XD

I don't dislike it for the reason you do, but I just think it's 'ugly'. Lol~ Apparently I'm a sans-serif kind of girl since I like Tahoma and Verdana :)

gene_d42 June 20 2010, 15:43:24 UTC

Pardon my non-geekiness, but what's the diff between serif and sans-serif? I have to say I really dislike TNR as well.

km_shea June 20 2010, 22:06:20 UTC

Hummmm it's hard to explain without an illustration.

Okay, so you know the font that this blog is showing up in now? Do you see how it doesn't have any of the little...'feet'? You know how TMR tries to look all fancy and has little itty bitty lines/flourishes at the end of major lines that make up the actual letter? (Like the sides of the top line on the T and on the bottom of the horizontal line on the T) Those are serifs. The sans serif fonts (like the font of this blog) don't have those little lines/feet/flourishes.

The sans in sans serif means "no" or "without" so Sans Serifs means none of those fancy little lines on the fonts like TNR.

myrrhlynn June 22 2010, 13:13:06 UTC

Actually I don't think there is an official definition for what a "serif" is, but km_shea basically covered it. They are the little strokes added onto the main letter to add class and also make them easier to read.

The problem is reading on a screen is a lot different from reading on paper since the background is backlit on a screen. I don't think they know WHY it's easier to read sans serif on screens, I think it probably has to do with sans serif stick out more against the backlit screen because they don't have the little added on lines that serif fonts have.