Of all the fonts...

[EllethValatari]

This may perhaps bore some people, but do any of you have a favorite font? For some reason even a book's font can give me a hint at its atmosphere and style; I can tell whether the book is old or new, whether it is intended for scholars or dreamers, for study or leisure.

I, for example, am drawn to old typewriter fonts. Newton's Principia was first published in a slightly beaten, but scholarly typewriter font (by the way, does anyone know where I can find this font online?).

Anyone?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Good God, aren't you in high school? What are you doing reading Newton's Principia, and referring to it by the Latin title?

All printing back tended to be in slightly uneven, creating what you are referring to as a "typewriter" effect. If you look at a facsimile (or, if you're lucky, an original! ) of a book printed from anytime, pretty much, until around the end of the nineteenth century, it's always a bit "beaten."

I'm sure you can find plenty of fonts that stylistically appropriate that effect on line, but of course it will only ever be an imitation, since the original would have been due to defects in the type of the printer, which (presumably) are no longer in operation.

[EllethValatari]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Good God, aren't you in high school? What are you doing reading Newton's Principia, and referring to it by the Latin title?

Actually, no, I'm in 8th grade. Today was my final day of school! I go to a classical school, and our science text this year was Newton's Principia, along with your average Physics textbook. As for the Latin reference, I have taken Latin for 8 years, and I was actually introduced to Newton's work by its Latin name.

[katya]

I'm a little bit jealous of that. That sounds neat. You really don't seem like an 8th grader, and I know how 8th graders are.

I don't really have a favorite font, but when I was younger I liked Papyrus like everyone else. Now every time I see it used, I think, "Papyrus? Really?"

[EllethValatari]

Originally Posted by katya

I'm a little bit jealous of that. That sounds neat. You really don't seem like an 8th grader, and I know how 8th graders are.

Yes, I guess that I'm supposed to be a stuck-up teenage know-it-all because I would be at the top of my middle-school food chain, but "all I know," as Socrates says, "it is that I know nothing."

That's not to say I don't love shopping as every other teenage girl does, I'd just rather shop for books!

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by EllethValatari

Actually, no, I'm in 8th grade. Today was my final day of school! I go to a classical school, and our science text this year was Newton's Principia, along with your average Physics textbook. As for the Latin reference, I have taken Latin for 8 years, and I was actually introduced to Newton's work by its Latin name.

Vere? Ammiror scholas illas; collegium meum erat classicum, sed praeter nullam educationem classicam habebam.

[EllethValatari]

Originally Posted by Gwaimir Windgem

Vere? Ammiror scholas illas; collegium meum erat classicum, sed praeter nullam educationem classicam habebam.

Yes, really! So you went to a classical college but not a classical grade/high school?

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by EllethValatari

This may perhaps bore some people, but do any of you have a favorite font? For some reason even a book's font can give me a hint at its atmosphere and style; I can tell whether the book is old or new, whether it is intended for scholars or dreamers, for study or leisure.

This has a lot to do with the design of a book, although I imagine it might be less so in truly antique books. I don't know that for a fact. I have an art friend who is a web site designer, and if you want to talk to someone who knows how to use fonts just ask her about them . She's wonderful, and always uses fonts to great advantage in her design work, which I believe is something a lot of people overlook.

I also love old TW fonts. Other than those I am typically not too picky, or crazy about most fonts. Typically any 'special' fonts tend to get overdone. I DO love calligraphers though. My mom used to be one, but unfortunately she had some health problems in her 30's that made her hands sort of stiff, so she doesn't write much by hand now. I love calligraphy because it has that 'mechanical' precision to it, but really good calligraphers put a little something into each letter that if you look closely enough at it you can just tell that it's barely different from any of the others.

Originally Posted by EllethValatari

That's not to say I don't love shopping as every other teenage girl does, I'd just rather shop for books!

You and my second oldest sister would've gotten along really well back when she was your age . She was just like that.

[BeardofPants]

Gil sans, and helvetica.

[Varnafindë]

Palatino and Tahoma.

[Mari]

Verdana. Boring, but I can distinguish the i and the l at least.

[katya]

Originally Posted by EllethValatari

Yes, I guess that I'm supposed to be a stuck-up teenage know-it-all because I would be at the top of my middle-school food chain, but "all I know," as Socrates says, "it is that I know nothing."

That's not to say I don't love shopping as every other teenage girl does, I'd just rather shop for books!

I haven't read enough of your posts to tell what your personality is like, so I was referring more to your typing skills. You know, spelling, grammar, punctuation, your vocabulary. And the fact that you actually care about intellectual questions. I work in middle and high schools, and people care even less about learning than they did when I was in school, seems like (though most mooters are exceptions to that).

For books and things with paragraphs or text rather than just a title, simple fonts are best. They should be easy to read and not distracting.

My least favorite fonts are ones that try to look like Chinese writing or ones that try to look like cyrillic. The "oriental" ones because they look cheesy and lack the elegance of real Chinese writing, and the cyrillic ones because the letters are all wrong. Like backwards "R" is "ya" not "r". But I suppose Russian people do the same thing with the roman alphabet. I've heard, anyway, that on devices that don't input cyrillic, there's a system of using roman letters to look like cyrillic.

[Earniel]

Pure aesthetically, I quite like bard which is nice as a more decorational script, but not one I would want to read whole books in. For reading I prefer trustworthy ol' arial. Calligrapher is also nice, pretty and readable and it reminds me of all those lovely medieval illustrated books.

[Jonathan]

Helvetica it is, "for its beauty and ubiquity".
There even was a documentary on Helvetica a few years ago.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Typically any 'special' fonts tend to get overdone.

Ain't that the truth. I used to like them, when I was younger. Now I just cringe, and blush.

Palatino and Helvetica are nice. I don't really think about it much, though, 'cause all my papers are TNR.

[katya]

Comic Sans is pretty horrible. Same here with my papers being usually TNR. The only time recently I've had to chose a font for something fancy was for a store logo in Second Life. We chose some random thing from the internet somewhere. Anything that you can recognize, unless it's something simple like Arial, is not good. Like Papyrus.

I write novels and stories in a monospace font in the simplest text editor I have.

[EllethValatari]

Originally Posted by katya

Comic Sans is pretty horrible. Same here with my papers being usually TNR. The only time recently I've had to chose a font for something fancy was for a store logo in Second Life. We chose some random thing from the internet somewhere. Anything that you can recognize, unless it's something simple like Arial, is not good. Like Papyrus.

I write novels and stories in a monospace font in the simplest text editor I have.

Yes, Comic Sans is horrible! When I was little, I was obcessed with Curlz MT. What a princess I wanted to be!

Same for me, TNR for papers. I don't have many chances to look through fonts, I just started thinking about them when I was reading my Principia.

[Mari]

We are required to write our papers in Verdana. It used to be TNR, but the schools gradually switched.

[Tessar]

Every single time I see the title of this thread the only thing I can think of is Casa Blanca.

Every. Single. Time. >.<

[EllethValatari]

Originally Posted by Tessar

Every single time I see the title of this thread the only thing I can think of is Casa Blanca.

Every. Single. Time. >.<

What?