Re: Font choices

Subject: Re: Font choices
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 21:01:19 -0500

Michael Lewis wrote:
> What most people forget about Times is that, although it's >classed as a "legibility" font, it was designed for a very >specific set of circumstances: newsprint, which -- even in the >London Times -- is a coarse paper; high print speeds; narrow >columns (short lines).

Even in this class, there's some fonts in the Adobe Type Library alone
that I'd prefer.

>Times blows out to 90 or more characters per line,
> which gives the reader some difficulty in tracking from line to line.

Another good argument - I hadn't thought of that.
>
> Then, of course, familiarity breeds contempt. A boring >appearance generates an expectation that the text will be >boring.

Maybe I'm unusual, but I find that familiarity only breeds contempt if
an object is mediore to start with. Palatino is one of the top three or
four most popular sans serifs, and while I appreciate a change from it,
I still use respect its design.

>Making ill-informed -- or, worse, casual -- choices is a >little like saying "I don't really care about the >affectiveness of the finished product".

I think it goes back to what I was saying a few weeks ago about the
division of the aesthetic and the useful in our culture. If a set of
aesthetics can be based on functionality as well as on any other
principle, and, if we can develop such aesthetics, then our manuals can
be both attractive and useful. In fact, if we can define the aesthetics
in enough detail, then we can reach both goals even when we're in a
rush.

If we believe that we have to settle for one or the other, then we risk
ignoring one or other aspect of our jobs. Personally, I prefer to try
for both.

--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
(bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com) (604) 421-7189 or 687-2133 X. 269
www.outlawcommunications.com (updated 25 Jan 1998)

"Spider spins its heart out, fox goes home alone,
Wisdom is a snake waiting underneath a stone,
Refuge is in silence or in any stony place,
I will not share your pity, your laws, or your disgrace."
--Oyster Band




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