Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Hussar]

I feel like fonts and the Oxford comma aren't things that professional writers care about, just people who would like to think that, in another life, they could have been professional writers.

I see a lot of dotcom guys with strong opinions about the Oxford comma, while simultaneously being the type to just have Google Gemini compose all their emails anyway.

Also, justice for Verdana, the great forgotten hero of the early internet age.

As an ESL teacher, fonts are actually pretty important. I've had parents straight up argue with me that I was teaching basic writing to kindergartners wrong because I wrote an "a" as (dunno how to fiddle with fonts here) a circle with a line on the right and not the typeface "a". Alternatively, I've had students who couldn't read texts because they hadn't been taught that sometimes a "t" is curved" or might have serifs. Or students who actually write the typeface "a" or add serifs to their writing because the teacher they had didn't actually know that there was a difference. That sort of thing.

I actually deliberately choose textbooks written in Century Gothic because Century Gothic is the closest I've found to natural printing. My online teaching company that I work for also uses Century Gothic in all of it's materials.

So, yeah, fonts can really make a huge difference.

Or to bring it back to gaming. Imagine if the Darlene Greyhawk map had been done in Times New Roman or Comic Sans. Or better yet, Middle Earth.

 

[TiQuinn]

As an ESL teacher, fonts are actually pretty important. I've had parents straight up argue with me that I was teaching basic writing to kindergartners wrong because I wrote an "a" as (dunno how to fiddle with fonts here) a circle with a line on the right and not the typeface "a". Alternatively, I've had students who couldn't read texts because they hadn't been taught that sometimes a "t" is curved" or might have serifs. Or students who actually write the typeface "a" or add serifs to their writing because the teacher they had didn't actually know that there was a difference. That sort of thing.

I actually deliberately choose textbooks written in Century Gothic because Century Gothic is the closest I've found to natural printing. My online teaching company that I work for also uses Century Gothic in all of it's materials.

So, yeah, fonts can really make a huge difference.

Interesting, did not know that about Century Gothic.

 

[Scribe]

--

"Just trust me bro, otherwise you are just a hater." isnt the compelling argument you think it is.

 

[Hussar]

Interesting, did not know that about Century Gothic.

Oh, what a game changer finding that was. I was writing my own textbooks and readers in my school and was constantly on the hunt for something that looked like natural writing. Now? I use it nearly all the time. Heck, if I could set my Iphone reader to it I would. It's just so easy to read.

in other news, I'm currently setting up my moodle sites for my classes. I have now been stuck on 75.2% complete for ten minutes and I know it's going to be another ten or more before it finishes. ARRRRRGHGHGHGHG!

 

[trappedslider]

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

if you don't like a topic you're not required to post in it....

Well, I think you already know the answer to this!

You are not compelled to form any opinion about this matter before you, nor to disturb your peace of mind at all. Things in themselves have no power to extort a verdict from you.
-Abraham Lincoln, discussing why he always dodged jury service.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Two notes-


1. No Helvetica? Font nerds are crying.

2. Courier. True story. I once was practicing at a firm that had a "house style." Among the rules? Every thing submitted to court ... every thing ... had to be in Courier (technically, Courier New). Why? Because almost every other firm was submitting in Times New Roman (or some other similar font, or just submitting in Arial because they didn't know better) and the firm wanted to make sure that their submissions stood out.

I mean, sure? But they could have "stood out" in Papyrus, too. Doesn't mean you want to do it.

 

[dragoner]

Concrete jungle wet dream tomato

 

[Bedrockgames]

Two notes-


1. No Helvetica? Font nerds are crying.

Helvetica is above it all, assigning alignments to the other fonts

 

[Bedrockgames]

As an ESL teacher, fonts are actually pretty important. I've had parents straight up argue with me that I was teaching basic writing to kindergartners wrong because I wrote an "a" as (dunno how to fiddle with fonts here) a circle with a line on the right and not the typeface "a". Alternatively, I've had students who couldn't read texts because they hadn't been taught that sometimes a "t" is curved" or might have serifs. Or students who actually write the typeface "a" or add serifs to their writing because the teacher they had didn't actually know that there was a difference. That sort of thing.

I actually deliberately choose textbooks written in Century Gothic because Century Gothic is the closest I've found to natural printing. My online teaching company that I work for also uses Century Gothic in all of it's materials.

So, yeah, fonts can really make a huge difference.

Or to bring it back to gaming. Imagine if the Darlene Greyhawk map had been done in Times New Roman or Comic Sans. Or better yet, Middle Earth.

And this is the only thing I think should matter about fonts. I think Whizbang's point was more about the snobbery and posturing you see online around them. But I have dyslexia and a font that is hard to read is definitely going to trip me up. I still think though most of the time, the issue is things like kerning, line spacing, margins, font size, etc (though I have run into plenty of fonts I wouldn't want to have to read a whole book of). Another thing is I think the legibility issue is around fonts that are rarely discussed in the conversations. These are really more about how hip a person's taste are and I think showing off our hipness around font choices is a bit mean spirited to people who simply don't know much about fonts (fonts are a pretty dull topic to most people I think). People make fun of courier but it is still standard for a lot of industries for documents that aren't being printed for the public. I find it quite legible. For example I am pretty sure movie scripts are still written in courier.