Comic Sans might have been a more appropriate choice. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
351–360 of 738 posts
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#352I have a couple of thoughts about this. Firstly, I thought sans-serif typefaces were encouraged for digital media because they read better than serif fonts. But now that high pixel density displays have permeated the market, this might be a moot point. On another note, I wonder how much of the hate TNR gets stems from its ubiquity for having been installed on almost all personal computers for the past n decades. Paga…
My understanding has always been that serif fonts read better for long text, and sans-serif for short text - so signage in Arial and policy statements in Times New Roman. And Comic Sans for letters sent to friends finishing design school, obviously. There are all sorts of statistical rules falling out of studies about where the long/short divide is, ambient lighting, blah blah blah - but human vision is even more var…
I want to read a study that compares what readers estimate for much effort was put into producing the same page of text in two contemporary and basic serif and sans-serif fonts. My hypothesis is that the serif font is viewed as more polished or refined, and therefore the result of more hours of work. But I could be wrong.
This is in-line with the advice here to use serif for long form and sans for short. When you're making signs and things like that, you don't have the repeated forms to inform your ability to interpret letters, so the serifs act to confuse readers, while in long form, they add flair, which could be more artistic and tasteful.
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#353Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#354There are very few ways in which US governance and/or regulation leads the developed world, but a huge (and surprising) one is the 1990 (!) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It is astonishingly, transformationally inclusive, and makes life better for every American (because everyone needs accessibility to different degrees, at different times).
Switching from Calibri back to Times New Roman "because DEI" 100% tracks with this administration's spiteful Project 2025 vandalism.
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
Neither of these decisions likely originated with the SoS themselves. I say the reasoning matters, though. You can try to avoid the discourse, but if you're American then you're in it. This administration is destroying the country for many reasons: profit, hatred of democracy, racism, control. And FWIW, it's the current administration foaming at the mouth about a font change, not the last one. In this case, the decis…
"Woke" is not, in fact, their words. The source article doesn't quote Rubio as saying "woke". The NY Times coverage ( https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-d... ) goes into a lot more detail than Reuters, as is typical; they don't publish the full text of the order (IIUC this is common to protect sources), but they say Rubio cited a number of coordination and messaging issues, along with a metric…
Fair point that they didn't say the word woke. I'll own that criticism.
I will assert that any justification for this that could be seen as legitimate is wiped away when they write anything about "Calibri is DEI" when there were valid reasons to consider it.
And believe me, I am well aware of where this ranks in the list of sins of the administration. It's a very small, very petty action in line with their broader ethos.
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the "diversity" they were talking about?? Fucks sake.
It's not, although blind or highly vision impared people who use screen readers sometimes also have to rely on OCR when the document isn't properly formatted with text. Using a sans serif font generally helps anyone with difficulty distinguishing letters so dyslexic, low vision, aging vision etc. individuals. It's not just for digital OCR.
> Using a sans serif font generally helps anyone with difficulty distinguishing letters so dyslexic, low vision, aging vision etc.
So far as I'm aware, there is very little actual evidence to support this oft-repeated claim. It all seems to lead back to this study of 46 individuals, the Results section of which smells of p-hacking.
https://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/go...
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#357While mostly framed as a matter of clarity and formality in presentation, Mr. Rubio’s directive to all diplomatic posts around the world blamed “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided and ineffective switch from the serif typeface Times New Roman to sans serif Calibri in official department paperwork. In an “Action Request” memo obtained by The New York Times…
It's incredibly generous to so many future plaintiffs to have this overt hostility to the very concept of accessibility and fairness and put in writing, so many times and in so many ways.
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#358Calibri was supposedly easier to read by people with disabilities. While this itself is debatable, that's not the reasoning behind the font switch. The mere attempt at making life easier for disadvantaged people is labeled DEI and as such cannot be tolerated by this administration.
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
You must be proud of mastering the grammar, aren't you? I guess there is nothing else to be proud of.
If you are going to make snide comments about the intelligence of others, be prepared for your own to be scrutinized.
If you reduce intelligence to knowledge of grammar, I can just pity you. Must be good to feel superiour.
Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri
#360Calibri font has "I" and "l" the same, according to Wikipedia. A better font should avoid characters being too similar (such as "I" and "l" and "1"). Another issue is due to the font size and font metrics, how much space it will take up on the page, to be small enough to avoid wasting paper and ink but also not too small to read. So, there are multiple issues in choosing the fonts; however, Times New Roman and Calibr…
Yep. Any font that neglects to put crossbars on the capital "i" should be eliminated from consideration for any practical application.