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Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

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Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

#141

Post by jeffmcmahan »

threepio wrote: post #88
jeffmcmahan wrote: post #86

First, as a type nerd, I don't agree that Times is a bad font or that it signals "apathy." When I see nice kerning, judicious leading and tracking in a book design or webpage using a Times font - particularly LaTeX documents using TeX Gyre Termes - I'm generally very pleased. Second, Plantin is not a "Times alternative," it is a variation on Bembo. Bembo is the opposite of Times ... it is e x p a n s i v e. It's like…

> Plantin is not a "Times alternative," it is a variation on Bembo. Plantin was released about 15 years before Bembo.

I stand corrected. Let me rather say that Plantin shares a lot more with (say) Bembo than it does with Times, and I don't see why either would be a times "alternative".

Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

#142

Post by jeffmcmahan »

dhosek wrote: post #89
jeffmcmahan wrote: post #86

First, as a type nerd, I don't agree that Times is a bad font or that it signals "apathy." When I see nice kerning, judicious leading and tracking in a book design or webpage using a Times font - particularly LaTeX documents using TeX Gyre Termes - I'm generally very pleased. Second, Plantin is not a "Times alternative," it is a variation on Bembo. Bembo is the opposite of Times ... it is e x p a n s i v e. It's like…

Plantin is in no way a variation of Bembo. It's based on the designs of Robert Granjon and is the stated starting point for the roman (but not italic or bold) of TNR. Bembo, on the other hand is based on the designs of Aldus Manutius and has a distinctly different character (so to speak).

Yes, they are more different that I initially thought.

Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

#143

Post by joe5150 »

Xenoamorphous wrote: post #120
joe5150 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't care for Calibri and I wish Segoe were the default in Word.

Is it me or the uppercase i looks a bit weird? Like a serif letter among sans serif ones?

In Segoe UI? The uppercase letter i is sans.

https://imgur.com/a/RxN88xs

Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

#144

Post by jeffmcmahan »

dheera wrote: post #96
jeffmcmahan wrote: post #86

First, as a type nerd, I don't agree that Times is a bad font or that it signals "apathy." When I see nice kerning, judicious leading and tracking in a book design or webpage using a Times font - particularly LaTeX documents using TeX Gyre Termes - I'm generally very pleased. Second, Plantin is not a "Times alternative," it is a variation on Bembo. Bembo is the opposite of Times ... it is e x p a n s i v e. It's like…

I'm also a type nerd and I can't stand Times New Roman. Or Arial, for that matter. It screams apathy to me because it has been the "default" for a long time and if among the thousands of excellent fonts out there you pick the default, it feels very much apathetic. It makes a piece of work look like a high school essay.

I join you in hating Arial for its ugliness. It is one thing to be a copy of another font (Helvetica); it is quite another to be a bad copy.

Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

#145

Post by blueridge »

propter_hoc wrote: post #93
blueridge wrote: post #47

Since we're talking fonts, I'll recommend a few of my favorites, all serifs: Lyon Text: https://commercialtype.com/catalog/lyon_text Blanco: https://www.fostertype.com/retail-type/blanco Bridge Text: https://www.typemates.com/fonts/bridge-text Arnhem: https://www.typeby.com/fonts/arnhem Heldane: https://klim.co.nz/retail-fonts/heldane-text/ Ivar Text: https://lettersfromsweden.se/font/ivar-text/ Gliko Modern: http://…

Thanks for the suggestions! I checked them all out. Lyon, Ivar and Arnhem are quite nice substitutes for Times. The others I find a bit too "designed" to be used as straight substitutes. Their design is quite striking, and risks distracting from the message in long paragraph text. Particularly Gliko, which is beautiful for titling but I can't imagine reading more than a few sentences of it. I'm personally quite parti…

Right on!

Quick followup to share: https://typefoundry.directory

Re: Times New Roman alternatives: You can do better (2013)

#146

Post by Xenoamorphous »

joe5150 wrote: post #143
Xenoamorphous wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it me or the uppercase i looks a bit weird? Like a serif letter among sans serif ones?

In Segoe UI? The uppercase letter i is sans. https://imgur.com/a/RxN88xs

Ah it seems I was looking at the old Segoe.
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