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Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

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Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#201

Post by laurencerowe »

todd8 wrote: post #168
NeoTar wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case anyone is unaware, A0 is 1m^2 in size, and each adjacent number is half the size (i.e. A1 = 500 000 mm^2, A2 = 250 000 mm^2, A3 = 125 000 mm^2, A4 = 62 500 mm^2). This has the great advantage of allowing documents to be easily up and down-scaled on a photocopier - i.e. an A3 document can be printed at 50% scale on an A4 sheet. I wonder if anyone ever tried to do something similar with imperial units (AKA Engl…

US paper sizes: ANSI A == 8.5 x 11 inches (letter) ANSI B == 11 x 17 inches ANSI C == 17 x 22 inches ANSI D == 22 x 34 inches ANSI E == 34 x 44 inches There are additional sizes frequently used in the US too: business card, legal, half letter, and specialized sizes for architecture.

I’ve only ever seen letter size paper available in offices in the US whereas almost every office photocopier/printer in UK/EU is stocked with both both A4 and A3. The larger sheets are really nice for sketching diagrams.

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#202

Post by int_19h »

LarryMullins wrote: post #133
Joker_vD wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A/B/C paper series formats are based on metrics system and therefore, morally evil and unfit for the US consumption.

> metric [...] morally evil I've never heard an American complain that Coca Cola is sold by the liter. There's no moral component to Americans not wanting to switch to metric. It's simply a matter of the switch and retooling being more hassle than continuing to use American customary units. Frankly, the difference seems to bother Europeans a lot more than it bothers Americans.

The reason why the rest of the world cares more is because US is literally the only country that hasn't switched that "matters" (for engineering and business purposes). Until y'all do that, everybody else has to contend with two systems at least occasionally because of commerce, tourism etc. Once you do, it's just metric going forward, which makes things so much easier for everyone. Standards produce the most benefit when they're truly universal.

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#203

Post by int_19h »

Poppys wrote: post #68
maxk42 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aside from licensing, usability studies show that serif fonts are more legible than sans serif fonts, so I have no idea where they came up with the idea that somehow they're harder to read for people with disabilities when all prior research I'm aware of has shown the opposite.

I don't believe that is true anymore, I've seen studies that show that there is little difference between the two.

It should be noted that older studies are all about paper and signs, while newer ones tend to focus on screens. There are some important differences between the two esp. when it comes to low-DPI screens (which are sadly still typical for office desktops).

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#204

Post by zinekeller »

mellavora wrote: post #191
realusername wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not even know anything else than A4 existed, I just learned that now

Oh, come on. Everyone knows about A3 and A5.

For Americans et al. who don't know:

- A3 is (within physical tolerances, anyway) twice the size of A4

- A5 is half the size of A4

- A0 is the biggest size and and has an area of 1 square meter, although it is not a square but instead it has an aspect ratio of 1:sqrt(2) (technically all A-series papers have this aspect ratio because math says it is the aspect ratio that retains itself when halved)

- In practical sense, A5 is the smallest pre-packaged A-series paper that I have personally encountered, although I guess someone would chime that they handled A6 (half of A5) or smaller.

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#205

Post by int_19h »

pc86 wrote: post #64
okamiueru wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would hope someone who don't know the context or effect of a choice they are making, at the least consults with someone who does? This isn't rocket science to get right.

This is such a weird HN-style take. I would bet money the start of this selection was "give me a list of the fonts on all our computers right now" and then they picked one. Probably Calibri after seeing it as the default in some other application. Nobody at the State Department is diving into the intricacies of font licensure.

Calibri is the default font for new documents in Microsoft Office since Office 2007, when it first appeared. So they probably didn't even bother with browsing the choices, just documented what was the easiest for the users.

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#206

Post by Cerium »

ceejayoz wrote: post #111
Scalene2 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is, next time you need it, make note of where you first look for it, and when your acquire more, put the newly acquired paper on the first spot you looked for the old stuff.

Ah, but now I need to figure out where to put the "remember to leave a note" note so I find it in 2026.

Wherever you store your passport of course.

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#207

Post by nayaketo »

jonas21 wrote: post #121
okamiueru wrote: post #16

I never understand why someone in charge of making one specific simple choice, ends up making a remarkable dumb decision. Why, unless you are doing things unethically, would you go for a licensed font? It's not like this is a hard problem to solve more than adequately with open and more accessible alternatives.

It's the default font in MS Office. If the State Department uses Office (and they almost certainly do), then it's an obvious choice.

Yeah, I was wondering if they finally upgraded computers with Win XP and Office 2003 (with default font Times New Roman) to Win 10/11 and Office 2021/Office 365 (with default font Calibri).

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#208

Post by dahfizz »

jbay808 wrote: post #194
todd8 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US paper sizes: ANSI A == 8.5 x 11 inches (letter) ANSI B == 11 x 17 inches ANSI C == 17 x 22 inches ANSI D == 22 x 34 inches ANSI E == 34 x 44 inches There are additional sizes frequently used in the US too: business card, legal, half letter, and specialized sizes for architecture.

11/8.5 = 22/17 = 44/34 = 1.29 17/11 = 34/22 = 1.55 These have the property that they alternate aspect ratios every size, so you have to go up two sizes (4x area) to get back to the original aspect ratio.

Who cares?

Re: Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri

#209

Post by dahfizz »

RealStickman_ wrote: post #98
NeoTar wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case anyone is unaware, A0 is 1m^2 in size, and each adjacent number is half the size (i.e. A1 = 500 000 mm^2, A2 = 250 000 mm^2, A3 = 125 000 mm^2, A4 = 62 500 mm^2). This has the great advantage of allowing documents to be easily up and down-scaled on a photocopier - i.e. an A3 document can be printed at 50% scale on an A4 sheet. I wonder if anyone ever tried to do something similar with imperial units (AKA Engl…

You're correct, but also forgetting the best part. The ratio between width and length stays the same!! This specifically is what allows easy up-/downscaling for an A* size.

How often do you need to scale up or down a printed document? I don't see how that is useful.
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