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Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

public-sans.digital.gov

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Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#101

Post by logfromblammo »

dpcx wrote: post #86
Someone1234 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pages don't need a fallback to non-Javascript in 2019. Accessibility technologies now fully support a JS enabled web, with accessibility standards following suit. That leaves only those who have voluntarily disabled JavaScript ( I've worked on public facing government websites (not 18F). We simply don't support this edge case, and our legal department supports our legal right to do so (in particular in relation to AD…

Thank you for the response. I wasn't trying to suggest that it was a requirement, simply that it seemed odd that there would be no fallback whatsoever. I guess I'm behind the times.

No, you're not. The times are just circling back around to form over function again.

Since we keep revisiting this, you might say that you're ahead of the times.

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#102

Post by JorgeGT »

crazygringo wrote: post #65
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #4

The question neither this page nor the GitHub answers is... why? I understand a lot of corporations did their own fonts to escape font licensing. Is there fonts the government is currently licensing and trying to get out from under? Where will I see this font? Is there a reason other open source fonts weren't already adequate?

A typeface is a key part of an organization's visual identity. A typeface expresses many things, you can imagine it as different sliders along, say, 100 different dimensions, similar to songs expressing combinations of feelings. An off-the-shelf typeface will express things that are close to exactly what you're looking for, but almost never exactly 100%. Commissioning a font gives you exactly the visual identity you'…

In this case, the most powerful nation-state on Earth established its exact visual identity by forking a font from an Argentinian dude whose last pic on Instagram is of Ernesto "Che" Guevara x)

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#103

Post by sdinsn »

chrisbrandow wrote: post #6

What is the advantage of this over Open Sans? Is it less encumbered legally? Or are there other advantages? Or is it simply another alternative, which is also great.

Yes, Open Sans is under the Apache License while Public Sans should be under Public Domain (although this is a bit unclear and is being debated in the github issues).

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#104

Post by sdinsn »

harshreality wrote: post #99

Sans is overused. Please do not use (or carefully consider before using) sans fonts for long blocks of text you expect people to read.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soYKFWqVVzg#t=34m53s "I disagree, I like sans [for long prose] better" comments miss the point; this is not an anecdata competition, it's about how many people prefer each one (and also it would be worth considering how strongly they hold that pr…

I personally disagree. I find it easier to read sans fonts.

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#106

Post by cududa »

JshWright wrote: post #100
harshreality wrote: post #99

Sans is overused. Please do not use (or carefully consider before using) sans fonts for long blocks of text you expect people to read.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soYKFWqVVzg#t=34m53s "I disagree, I like sans [for long prose] better" comments miss the point; this is not an anecdata competition, it's about how many people prefer each one (and also it would be worth considering how strongly they hold that pr…

That's a pretty disgusting video description...

The fact that you’re getting downvoted ... god the people in this industry..

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#107

Post by bredren »

eddietejeda wrote: post #81
siavosh wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious to hear if your group is still well supported budget wise?

Although we are part of the government, we operate as a business unit that must pay for itself to exist. To do this, we have to charge other agencies for our services. My group is "cost-recoverable," meaning, that we are longer losing money and can reinvest back into the product. You will notice our Github activity picked up recently and even more significant changes are coming soon. So, I'd say we are in the best sh…

Can you comment on what organizations are your biggest customers? Are you concerned about austerity measures / cutbacks affecting customer budgets?

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#108

Post by sdinsn »

cpeterso wrote: post #84

Interesting take: Does Public Sans' OFL-1.1 license violate the Establishment Clause? https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/31

It definitely doesn't. His argument kinda relies on the idea that the government interacting with a religious organization in any manner is a violation. This is just not the case

Re: Public Sans – A strong, neutral typeface for text or display

#109

Post by howard941 »

cpeterso wrote: post #84

Interesting take: Does Public Sans' OFL-1.1 license violate the Establishment Clause? https://github.com/uswds/public-sans/issues/31

Probably not as it fails to move the needle on any of the Lemon test prongs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_v._Kurtzman

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