Comments on: Can we choose a better font? [update][update2]

By: Karl Zipser

Karl Zipser — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:06:32 +0000

I updated this post again with a couple of screen shots comparing artAndPerception.com and zipser.nl as seen from where I am.

This font discussion could be considered the most boring thing in the world. I choose not to see it that way. I think this is a fascinating exercise in web programming, which is the reality and functional basis of our community. What it demonstrates to me is that it is extremely difficult to do good web design and that having a lot of people looking at the site from many different hardware/software viewpoints is critical.

Rex says that the Trebuchet MS font is superior to Sans Serif, especially at small font sizes, and that changing would be a disaster. I’m open to that argument, but I don’t feel I’ve seen enough evidence yet. If by small font sizes he means smaller than normal, I don’t see the use. We are aiming for a font that everyone can read well at normal size.

Perhaps Angela has an unusual configuration for fonts on her computer. But if I were looking from Angela’s machine it would never occur to me that the computer was at fault. I would simply think, “Hey, these guys chose a really ugly font for an art site.” We can’t fix the configuration of everyone’s computers. We know what we could do to make the site work on Angela’s computer. Angela can also see the fonts for the Default WordPress Theme: “font-family: ‘Lucida Grande’, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;”

Rex, we have the Sans Serif font at zipser.nl now. In what way is it a disaster? Can you make a screen shot of your view of the two sites?

By: birgit

birgit — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:37:21 +0000

Making slides on memory and long-term potentiation, I am reading wikipedia.

What is the font used by en.wikipedia.org ?

Wikipedia must have figured out how to be readable across the different platforms?

It is not as round as Trebuchet. It also does not look like the Sans-Serif on zipser.nl

By: birgit

birgit — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:55:00 +0000

My old IBM laptop does not have the Sans-serif font, it only has Trebuchet. The fonts on A&P and zipser.nl look different. But I don’t know what font my computer uses to interpret either site. Any font copied into ‘word’ gets automatically translated into Times New Roman. Hopefully, I soon get a new charger for my Mac!

The current A&P font in its somewhat greater roundness looks more Fen-Shui. The Sans-Serif is fully readable but reminds me a little of the boxy 8-point Geneva font I used many years ago on my Mac

By: chantal stone

chantal stone — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:36:05 +0000

I like the font on your blog much better, Karl.

By: Angela Ferreira

Angela Ferreira — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:28:58 +0000

Looks good, excellent job Karl!

By: Karl Zipser

Karl Zipser — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:50:48 +0000

Okay, here is the basic Art & Perception style, but using the most basic Sans-Serif font (#6 above): zipser.nl
The font can be a bit bigger of smaller of course. How does this look? Angela, can you see it better? Rex, is it difficult to read on some systems?

By: Karl Zipser

Karl Zipser — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:41:28 +0000

Angela,

I’m using the Art & Perception theme now on my own blog in order to understand it better. I will adjust the fonts there on zipser.nl and we can see how it looks. I’ll make a further comment when I have changed it. Thanks for bringing the problem to our attention!