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Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

reuters.com

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Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#431

Post by da_chicken »

ajross wrote: post #155
zzo38computer wrote: post #55

Calibri 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…

> Calibri 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"). Only when used in a context where they can be confused. This is a situation where HN is going to give bad advice. Programmers care deeply about that stuff (i.e. "100l" is a long-valued integer literal in C and not the number 1001). Most people tend not to, and there i…

Yes, exactly this. Judging a document font based on how well it functions as a programming font is weird.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#432

Post by platevoltage »

loadingcmd wrote: post #45

As the administration steps back from global affairs, it seems the State Department is searching for direction. Rubio would go like - we’re done with managing world affairs via the NSS, what should we do next? Let’s change the font for a new perspective!

Gotta get that typeface looking good before the regime change starts.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#433

Post by platevoltage »

WastedCucumber wrote: post #329
jasonlotito wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Times New Roman existed in 1950. Your comment does not in ANY way contest the parent comment.

I think the comment points to the other possible motivation - undo everything that was done under the Biden admin out of principle/spite.

And tell everyone that it's to get rid of DEI or something, because thats how much you respect your voters' intelligence.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#434

Post by platevoltage »

Why is this a story? I'm fairly certain fonts change all of the time. Oh right, it's because they can't just make the change, they have to say something stupid about it. Republican voters, how are you not insulted? Is this really all it takes to get you to that voting booth?

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#435

Post by nelox »

Reuters calling the switch a "font" change instead of a typeface change is troubling, though consistent with a society that now casually refers to all pasta as "spaghetti". A typeface is the design; a font is its specific instance. This is basic knowledge, taught to children, houseplants, and most domesticated goats.

A simple correction would stop this spiral, but Reuters appears committed to forging a bold new era in which terminology is chosen at random, like drawing Scrabble tiles from a bag and declaring them journalism.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#436

Post by fhd2 »

nelox wrote: post #435

Reuters calling the switch a "font" change instead of a typeface change is troubling, though consistent with a society that now casually refers to all pasta as "spaghetti". A typeface is the design; a font is its specific instance. This is basic knowledge, taught to children, houseplants, and most domesticated goats. A simple correction would stop this spiral, but Reuters appears committed to forging a bold new era i…

In my experience, "font" is the colloquial term referring to either. Programmers get to demand precision, for journalists it's a bit tougher. The de facto meaning of terms does, unfortunately, evolve in sometimes arbitrary ways. And it's tough to fight.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#437

Post by Ghoelian »

nelox wrote: post #435

Reuters calling the switch a "font" change instead of a typeface change is troubling, though consistent with a society that now casually refers to all pasta as "spaghetti". A typeface is the design; a font is its specific instance. This is basic knowledge, taught to children, houseplants, and most domesticated goats. A simple correction would stop this spiral, but Reuters appears committed to forging a bold new era i…

> A typeface is the design; a font is its specific instance. This is basic knowledge, taught to children, houseplants, and most domesticated goats.

I didn't know this, and this explanation isn't really helping. (I did know there's a difference between typeface and font, but no idea what).

Why would this be basic knowledge when all most people ever have to deal with is the font options in Word?

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#438

Post by seb1204 »

vintermann wrote: post #384
pinkmuffinere wrote: post #92

When I read the headline i thought “well obviously they don’t mean Marco Rubio, there must be some famous publicist or something”. Cannot believe it actually was Marco Rubio, lol

Spending time on something like this suggests he doesn't actually have much to do besides throwing his power around.

Well, you can come up with this position or view on a 5 minute toilet break after reading something that rallied you up. Once you have a voice you can trigger an avalanche with very little it seems.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#439

Post by foldr »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #285
foldr wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I easily found some research by searching Google scholar: https://www.scitepress.org/Papers/2021/109668/109668.pdf It's not a big difference, but apparently TNR was the worst of the fonts tested for OCR. But anyway, there was no "signaling" about the change to Calibri. No-one ever tried to make a political issue out of it the way Rubio is now.

I’m not sure what you think I mean by “signaling”. This is a study of OCR performance, with no attempt to measure practical accessibility issues caused by the font difference which you and I agree is not big. I’m still very skeptical that even a single State Department employee’s ability to do a good job depends on which font the department uses. If you say that it doesn’t matter whether changing the font had a large…

Classify it how you like, but a gesture towards building a culture of accessibility (if indeed that’s what this was) is hardly comparable to an attempt to score points against political opponents.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#440

Post by ksynwa »

chinathrow wrote: post #419

> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. What a waste of government time and spending.

Calibri is woke?
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