Microsoft's New Fonts

[snkTab]

I hope this means the death of Arial and Times New Roman. The new fonts, looks a but like Adobe's offerings though. Consolas would be a nice touch.

Bill Gates wants computer users, well, Microsoft users, to have a more enjoyable on-screen reading experience -- so much so that he made improving reading on the screen one of his top five priorities.

Beginning in 2006, Microsoft says it will ship with its operating system and other software products six brand new typefaces created especially for extended on-screen reading.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683

[Blue Velvet]

Interesting. All characterised by large x-heights.
Agree with him about Candara, it's very fussy.

Wonder how Adobe will be viewing these if MS want to push these as standards esp. with this rumoured Metro thang.

Thanks for the link. I love reading stuff like this...

p.s. Hope they manage to produce and support some decent ligatures.

[daveL]

Originally Posted by Blue Velvet

Interesting. All characterised by large x-heights.
Agree with him about Candara, it's very fussy.

Wonder how Adobe will be viewing these if MS want to push these as standards esp. with this rumoured Metro thang.

Thanks for the link. I love reading stuff like this...

p.s. Hope they manage to produce and support some decent ligatures.

Hi Blue. Since you seem to be keyed into this stuff, may I ask what OS X font(s) you select for lengthy viewing? Say for Safari? How about mono fonts? I spend a lot of time reading on my LCD and sometimes feel a bit of eye fatigue, so I thought I might try a different font, if it would help.

TIA

[Blue Velvet]

I'm one of those lazy people that doesn't have a personal taste about web-viewing. Give me a discussion about a typeface for print and I'll bore the living daylights out of my colleagues until I'm forcibly stopped.

This is the person who was dumb enough to say 'Who cares? Firefox is just a browser.' to my web-colleagues. A tumble-weed, squeaky-sign moment followed.

I just use the standard vanilla settings on Safari but many things can affect eye-strain, though. Lighting, monitor, seating, etc... You may even need lenses.

[daveL]

Originally Posted by Blue Velvet

You may even need lenses.

Oh, I've had those for half a dozen years. I have a special pair just for computer work.

[Jaffa Cake]

I quite like the Constantina italic. Corbel isn't bad either – I've come across Jeremy Tankard's stuff before. All in all, better than I expected.

[Fukui]

Originally Posted by snkTab

I hope this means the death of Arial and Times New Roman. The new fonts, looks a but like Adobe's offerings though. Consolas would be a nice touch.
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683

Calibri is pretty beautiful. Kinda like myriad but 'softer.'

[Fukui]

Just for comparison:
Calibri first and Myriad after.

[AppleMatt]

Verdana was designed for on-screen reading, I believe.

AppleMatt

[snkTab]

Originally Posted by Fukui

Just for comparison:
Calibri first and Myriad after.

Exactly, I love Myriad, and when I saw these I got quite irked. But what do I know, I always use Myriad bolded. Too bad I don't have Myriad Pro Bold, I just have the normal and Black version.

[t300]

I have these on my Mac right now. They are actually NOT bad.

[homerjward]

after looking at those, i must say very good for something from m$. not that i know anything about fonts of course, other than "ooh, that one looks cool." what's serif vs. san serif? my favorite of those is consolas. seems such an improvement over courier (i guess that's what it's replacing.)

[Mav451]

serif is like the nooks on the bottom of letters.

The letter I is good example.

Considering that "sans" = without...i think you can figure out the rest.

[homerjward]

Originally Posted by Mav451

serif is like the nooks on the bottom of letters.

The letter I is good example.

Considering that "sans" = without...i think you can figure out the rest.

thanks. so like, ThIs is sans serif, but ThIs is serif?

[thequicksilver]

Originally Posted by homerjward

thanks. so like, ThIs is sans serif, but ThIs is serif?

Yep, that's right.

(For further clarification, put it this way: Times and Garamond are serif fonts; Arial and Helvetica are sans [that is to say "without"] serif.)

[baummer]

Anyone know if these are available to download/purchase anywhere?

[baummer]

Anyone?

[Daveway]

Originally Posted by Blue Velvet

Interesting. Wonder how Adobe will be viewing these if MS want to push these as standards esp. with this rumoured Metro thang.

Metro is not rumored anymore. Metro is real and awesome from what I saw.

[MontyZ]

Originally Posted by daveL

What OS X font(s) you select for lengthy viewing?

For on-screen viewing, I think Verdana is pretty good. It's not really a "pretty" font, but, it's very functional and easy to read at small sizes.

The new fonts MS is releasing, however, offer better choices, I think. They are more attractive to look at, but, also very readable for on-screen use. Why Adobe isn't on the forefront of this, I have no idea. I guess they are too preoccupied with buying Macromedia.

The WORSE on-screen font to use is Arial. Butt ugly and too dense.

[rendezvouscp]

I think that these fonts are actually pretty cool. This morning I printed a research paper and used Calibri for the headings and Corbel for the main body text, and it looks pretty good. If you're interested in seeing the fonts in use in a PDF, check out a draft of my research paper (warning, 1.2 MB file).
-Chase

[Mechcozmo]

Originally Posted by MontyZ

For on-screen viewing, I think Verdana is pretty good. It's not really a "pretty" font, but, it's very functional and easy to read at small sizes.

The WORSE on-screen font to use is Arial. Butt ugly and too dense.

Agreed on both points.

I use Monaco (IIRC), Verdana, Times New Roman, Helvetica, and when I'm in a nostalgia mood, Chicago.

[snkTab]

Originally Posted by rendezvouscp

I think that these fonts are actually pretty cool. This morning I printed a research paper and used Calibri for the headings and Corbel for the main body text, and it looks pretty good. If you're interested in seeing the fonts in use in a PDF, check out a draft of my research paper (warning, 1.2 MB file).
-Chase

Of course they look good, I think Microsoft knows who to copy when it comes to OSes and who to copy when it comes to fonts.

That said, I wouldn't use to similar fonts in the same paper. You almost never want to use two fonts that are 90% similar next to each other, because at some level it throws the presentation. I would recommended for a paper that you either stick with one font or just two fonts each a different type. For headers use Calibri if you want, but for the text use a nice serif font. Use Constantina if you want to go with another of these fonts.

Serif fonts are great in body text because they let the reader focus on the words more and it enhances readability. Serif fonts in a header however make it look too klunky and thats why a sans serif would look better, as it adds impact.

[rendezvouscp]

Originally Posted by snkTab

Of course they look good, I think Microsoft knows who to copy when it comes to OSes and who to copy when it comes to fonts.

That said, I wouldn't use to similar fonts in the same paper. You almost never want to use two fonts that are 90% similar next to each other, because at some level it throws the presentation. I would recommended for a paper that you either stick with one font or just two fonts each a different type. For headers use Calibri if you want, but for the text use a nice serif font. Use Constantina if you want to go with another of these fonts.

Serif fonts are great in body text because they let the reader focus on the words more and it enhances readability. Serif fonts in a header however make it look too klunky and thats why a sans serif would look better, as it adds impact.

Interesting. Who does Microsoft copy for fonts? I'm a bit font ignorant, which brings me to my next question.

For headings, it's good to use sans-serif fonts because they're "cleaner" without the serif, right? So serif fonts are great for body text because...they draw more attention from the eye? You sound like you know what you're talking about, so I'm curious to know.
-Chase

[Fukui]

Originally Posted by rendezvouscp

For headings, it's good to use sans-serif fonts because they're "cleaner" without the serif, right? So serif fonts are great for body text because...they draw more attention from the eye?
-Chase

I don't personally like serif stuff. It looks like a million little thorns poking my eyes (the serifs). Though serif is good on some roman fonts for serious feel... I don't really like it that much, too harsh to me.

Originally Posted by rendezvouscp

Interesting. Who does Microsoft copy for fonts? I'm a bit font ignorant, which brings me to my next question.

Myriad seems to be apples favorite font for advertising it seems.
So, you can check my previous post....

[snkTab]

Originally Posted by rendezvouscp

For headings, it's good to use sans-serif fonts because they're "cleaner" without the serif, right? So serif fonts are great for body text because...they draw more attention from the eye? You sound like you know what you're talking about, so I'm curious to know.
-Chase

Yes exactly, for headers sans serif can make the header look to busy. Also, sans serif is an eye stopper. You see, the serifs on the letters actually make each letter more distinguisable at some level, and because people read words rather than the letters, easy to read. San serif kinda stops the eye, so would kinda be beneficial for titles. Also, sans serifs by nature look nicer bolded.

Here's an image of the two in a header and text comparison. Note the serif font Garamond doesn't look to read as well as it's counterpart myriad in this case. This is because at small sizes the weights of the serifs get lost as the font is pixelated while viewing on a screen. However on paper, this wouldn't be an issue.