I grew up with Times New Roman as the default font in MS Word. It's not the default any longer but I tend to switch to it precisely because it is the font that symbolizes least resistance. "To look at Times New Roman is to gaze into the void" is often exactly the statement I want to make with my presentation, similar to how I can romanticize the typewriter and not having a choice with font and layout.
Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
101–110 of 146 posts
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#102He lists only three 'flaws' with Times New Roman. The first is: > It was created for a newspaper, so it’s a bit narrower than most text fonts yet all the alternatives are almost exactly the same width. Plantin is even a bit narrower. How do they "avoid its shortcomings"? The second flaw is "italic is mediocre", which I'm not in a position to judge. The third (and main) complaint is "it connotes apathy", and one of th…
An ad coupled with some pretty shoddy arguments against a font that is extremely legible. I like typography as much as the next geek, but I have purposefully chosen Times New Roman many times in the past because it is so damn easy on the eyes.
Yeah, I just uploaded a PDF paper and did quite a lot of careful "typesetting" of the layout, font sizes and so on. I deliberately left the font as Times New Roman because I honestly think it's very readable, especially in print format.
"It connotes apathy" is a bit like accusing someone who eats enough vegetables of being "apathetic".
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
IMO the default for body text should be serif, with sans used for headlines and display text. There’s a reason books and magazines are set in serif fonts: they are easier to read for long text paragraphs. GUIs defaulted to sans serif fonts because displays didn’t have enough resolution to properly render serifs, but that’s mostly not the case anymore.
It's also hard to distinguish among numbers in many sans serif fonts.
Take a look at "Input Sans Narrow Light".
Example/demo: https://input.fontbureau.com/preview/?size=14&language=xml&t...
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#104Reports we did in high school were supposed to be submitted in Times, but I hated it for the same reason of it just being the default. I always used Garamond instead. I don't expect many of the teachers knew or cared about the difference, but it made me feel a whole lot better. I was such a rebel...
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#105I love a good font (and try to use one on my own blog), but part of me gets really giddy when I discover a site with very little styling. It's like I've found some secret oasis that's going to have a high signal-to-noise ratio, or at least some more "raw" writing than you'd find on ${popularNewsWebsite}. Some sites that come to mind: - https://danluu.com/ - https://100r.co/site/home.html - https://meagher.co/ - https…
If you wander a bit through the Practical Typography site, you'll realize that its whole shtick is being minimal while not looking like it was made in '94. Even the ‘Introduction’ chapter says pretty much this. The somewhat-recent slew of ‘This is a website’ pages don't come close to PT in terms of just being nice to look at.
Navigating PT for the first time wasn't as easy as the examples given above though.
Links were just plain black with no decoration, making me have to guess at every click what was navigation.
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#106The best three fonts are: "sans-serif" (for general use), "monospace" (for code), and "serif" (for when you need a secondary font for contrast). The choice of implementation for these fonts should be left to the reader (who will probably use the defaults for their browser/ebook reader). This way everybody gets the fonts they're used to, which are the easiest fonts to read. I don't even know which exact font I'm looki…
Ah but fonts are so important to the 'look and feel' of any publication that has text (and possibly even to those that don't!). They are also important to the built environment - in Lisbon, Portugal where I now live, all the signage I see out and about is sans-serif, possibly the same font, and quite likely by the same handful of design agencies. I am genuinely feeling oppressed by sans-serif!! I long for serif, or i…
> I am genuinely feeling oppressed by sans-serif!!
I fully understand you, so just a few examples of the opposite of what you describe:
https://www.alamy.com/old-and-new-street-signs-with-blacklet...
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-paris-july-14-art-nouveau-...
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you wander a bit through the Practical Typography site, you'll realize that its whole shtick is being minimal while not looking like it was made in '94. Even the ‘Introduction’ chapter says pretty much this. The somewhat-recent slew of ‘This is a website’ pages don't come close to PT in terms of just being nice to look at.
Navigating PT for the first time wasn't as easy as the examples given above though. Links were just plain black with no decoration, making me have to guess at every click what was navigation.
They're plain black but internal links are indicated with small caps and external links with Butterick's odd red degree symbol°. It seems to me to sufficiently distinguish them.
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#108Has the default font on that site been changed? IIRC it was Valkyrie, but now Century Supra is selected for me, and it doesn't seem to elicit quite the same breath-taking effect. (Not talking about Times New Roman on the linked page.) If my memory and senses don't fault me in the tiredness and drunkenness, then switching to Valkyrie (at the bottom) is highly advised, as with it this site is the most beautiful on the…
fwiw when I clicked the article it was in Valkyrie, and that's the first time I've ever been on that site
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#109He lists only three 'flaws' with Times New Roman. The first is: > It was created for a newspaper, so it’s a bit narrower than most text fonts yet all the alternatives are almost exactly the same width. Plantin is even a bit narrower. How do they "avoid its shortcomings"? The second flaw is "italic is mediocre", which I'm not in a position to judge. The third (and main) complaint is "it connotes apathy", and one of th…
He is honest about it. He wants the book's readers to buy his fonts. He says so. That doesn't mean the page is an ad; it means that the page has an ad on it, and he suggests several alternatives that he didn't design.
https://practicaltypography.com/how-to-pay-for-this-book.htm...
Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)
#110The best three fonts are: "sans-serif" (for general use), "monospace" (for code), and "serif" (for when you need a secondary font for contrast). The choice of implementation for these fonts should be left to the reader (who will probably use the defaults for their browser/ebook reader). This way everybody gets the fonts they're used to, which are the easiest fonts to read. I don't even know which exact font I'm looki…
IMO the default for body text should be serif, with sans used for headlines and display text. There’s a reason books and magazines are set in serif fonts: they are easier to read for long text paragraphs. GUIs defaulted to sans serif fonts because displays didn’t have enough resolution to properly render serifs, but that’s mostly not the case anymore.
Quick question - "body text" and "headlines" are clear to me but what is "display text"?