Saturday, February 23, 2008

Are we font snobs?


It’s clear; it’s simple; it’s easier for dyslexics to read. Why do so many people hate Comic Sans?


Is it too informal? Does it give a false impression of being friendly? Or has it been overused by teenagers and those who wish to appeal to them?


I’d love to know.

And I'm really disappointed - I thought I'd invented the phrase 'font snob', but googled and there are loads of examples of its use. Ho hum. It seems there is indeed nothing new.

4 comments:

Karen said...

I fiddled about with fonts a lot when I started my blog-thing. I like Comic Sans, because it's easy to read and looks friendly, but didn't use it because I thought readers might not like it. Weird.

aliqot said...

I've seen Comic Sans sneered at a few times, but I certainly used to use it from time to time on school worksheets.

I've heard that the letter 'a' makes it easier for dyslexics, as it's written in the way we teach handwriting.

This is the only time I've used it on the blog, though.

I do like to vary fonts from time to time. (Low boredom threshold, perhaps? Hmmm.)

Moondreamer said...

I think fonts are another form of self expression, I often try new ones out when writing, though haven't on my blog (mostly because I still struggle with making certain changes on blogger and managing to change other things unintentionally, which gets me all confused!)

I like comic sans, because it is a 'friendly' font, and is easy on the eyes. I just stumbled across a great study into fonts - http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/3S/font.htm - while looking for the name of fonts that have little ticks on the up and down strokes (?!) I've read that they make speed-reading easier, but don't think it makes much difference to me personally.

Thought-provoking post, aliqot! Audre Lorde said, "There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt." And you do a great job of that ... I love the photograph and your beautiful way with words in the first paragraph of your Winter post.

:o)

aliqot said...

Thanks, moondreamer.

I have to admit, blogging suits the way my brain flits around from subject to subject.

Did you notice that the people who run the Fish one-page story prize ( mentioned by Sally Q) use Comic Sans on their website http://www.fishpublishing.com/2008-one-page-story-prize.php ?
Surely, they cannot be serious?? How do they cope with all the Comic-bashers?

Do you mean those serif thingies? Do you remember the long ago Guardian April Fool about a holiday destination called Sans Seriffe? I’m sure it must be on the web somewhere.