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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to hate people who defend C*m*c S*ans with no facts

270 replies

tokyonambu · 20/10/2010 15:47

So, the BBC have another article, linking to bancomicsans, giving the highlights of the objections to the typographic cancer of our times. In the comments, Louise, a teacher from the West Midlands (hi!) writes:

As a teacher Comic Sans is an easy to read font, especially for pupils with learning difficulties as it is the only font to use a 'hand writing style' letter a.

(My bold).

The only font, eh? Well, I'm not sure why an "a" with a simple downstroke is the sine qua non of easy reading, nor that you shouldn't aim for people to be able to read common fonts. But it's not true anyway: Century Gothic, or, if we want something everyone has seen Futura. Which is now used for Ikea catalogues, hence its ubiquity.

There are plenty of reasons to ignore Comic Sans snobs, although I confess there was a time when I had my email filters set to automatically discard any message that used it on the grounds that it was probably from an idiot. But please, find a better excuse than "I think fonts should have this magic property and it's the only one".

OP posts:
SarfEasticated · 20/10/2010 22:32

Nice article in 'the observer' last weekend ? interesting point about Eric Gill being a complete header ?Nellycats you may want to reconsider. I love Helvetica. Apparently it's no 2 most loved and most hated font. There is also a very cool film about Helvetica by Gary Hustwit if you get a chance to see it. Tapping this out on phone so can't link I'm afraid.

How are you liking my 'en' dashes by the way?

emptyshell · 20/10/2010 22:33

Yeah - I'm a big fan of the newer Office default fonts (and I'm probably the biggest typeface snob known to man).

I'm also a terrible collector of wacky fonts for display labels and things - I have christmas lights, I have cats, I have spooky ones, I've got musical instruments making letters, I've got a jungle font with animals around each letter that can keep you amused for hours colouring them all in...

I need to get out more don't I?

SarfEasticated · 20/10/2010 22:38

Back on laptop now

article in 'Guardian' www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/oct/17/type-letters-typefaces-simon-garfield

Helvetica film www.helveticafilm.com/

Heathcliffscathy · 20/10/2010 22:39

I LOVE this thread.

so much.

tokyonambu · 20/10/2010 22:43

"How are you liking my 'en' dashes by the way?"

They look like "em" dashes from here.

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TealAndBiscuit · 20/10/2010 22:43

I approve of Comic Sans in an educational context. I loathe it when my FIL sends his 'jokes' in this font.

I quite enjoy Trebuchet.

LookToWindward · 20/10/2010 22:44

If I receive an email in comic sans it gets deleted without reading and the sender black-listed on the (almost always correct) assumption that they're a moron.

Interestingly enough, if you had you had to pay full retail price for the typefaces included in Windows XP it would cost you several thousand pounds - you're actually getting something of a bargain.

MollieO · 20/10/2010 22:44

Sputnik I do my bills in Arial and letters in Times New Roman.

My emails are written in blue does that make me even more of a lightweight? Grin

tokyonambu · 20/10/2010 22:45

And, in that context, they should be em dashes. You use en dashes for ranges (34 years for a degree) and em dashes when they're used - like this - to parenthesise. and --- are of course en and em dashes in The One True Typesetting Package.

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TealAndBiscuit · 20/10/2010 22:45

... I also think those were em dashes.

Nellykats · 20/10/2010 22:52

SarfEasticated

Haha, I work amongst young designers who definitely consider Helvetica to be the Devil! But I do like type snobs I must admit.

The Helvetica film is great, combining typography and animation is one of my passions. I also really like hand rendered lettering, particularly old shop signs, they are so gorgeous and sadly crumbling away. There's an abandoned shop nearby with the most amazing Yardley sign at the front, I fantasize about getting a ladder in the middle of the night...

This is an amazing website with all sorts of ephemera (there are links to flickr) including lots of typography goodies.

bibigreycat.blogspot.com/

bibigreycat.blogspot.com/search/label/typo

tokyonambu · 20/10/2010 22:52

"you're actually getting something of a bargain."

Like someone filling your fridge with a hundred bottles of Blue Nun, charging you a tenner and telling you they've done you a favour.

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LittleRedPumpkin · 20/10/2010 22:56

Mmm, Blue Nun ...

Grin
LookToWindward · 20/10/2010 22:58

Aesthetic opinions aside, if you approached Monotype back in 2001 and bought a licence for Arial it would have cost you a lot more than your copy of Windows XP...

SlightlyUndead · 20/10/2010 23:07

This thread has made my night :)
I thought it was just me
HATE HATE HATE Comic Sans - especially when it's used on junk mail or on the envelopes from charities in a 'Dear Householder' kind of way as thought the use of Comic Sans makes it less of an imposition

Love Arial narrow although size 10 can be a struggle to read without contacts it...
Love Verdana - clean and classic
And am enjoying a Calibri Moment right now. OOOh that sounds quite nice, perhaps there should be font adverts.

Opening scene:
Attractive Woman sits at laptop and clicks opens her email programme

C/U blank email. A manicured nail hovers over the keyboard. She types 'My Darling' in Comic Sans

C/U of 'My Darling' being selected

Pull out to reveal font drop down menu. The cursor lands on Calibri and we watch as 'My Darling' is transforned into Calibri

VOICE OVER. 'If you've something to say, say it with Calibri'.

Soft focus of woman and tanned 'Darling' laughing and chinking glasses

Strapline 'Make it a Calibri Moment'

Dear god. I have truly gone insane.

tokyonambu · 20/10/2010 23:07

But Monotype were willing to let Microsoft have it on a one-time buyout, rather than a per-copy royalty. That's why Apple are able to ship genuine Helvetica and Helvetica Neue and the rest of the goodie bag: they're prepared to pay Adobe, Linotype and other foundries a per-copy royalty. Microsoft won't ship anything in the base OS that requires the payment of per-unit royalties.

And surely to God no-one would actually buy Arial with their own money?

OP posts:
Indelible · 20/10/2010 23:17

It is perfectly acceptable to use spaced en dashes to parenthesise.

PerAaaarrrghhduaAdNauseum · 20/10/2010 23:32

YANBU and marking place to read later. Has anyone mentioned goudy? Or is that de trop? I also loathe arial and times new roman - the one's so childish, the other so cramped yet spidery...

prettybird · 20/10/2010 23:34

I like Book Antiqua :)

The company where I used to work used to have this as its default font in its templates. Then the Chief Exec got ousted by his COO and suddenly Book Antiqua was removed from the server Hmm

Arial (and Arial Narrow) seem to have become the "norm" for business (at least in the industry I work in, telecoms): maybe becasue Microsoft has such a stranglehold :(

LittleRedPumpkin · 20/10/2010 23:40

Grin at slightly.

SkeletonFlowers · 20/10/2010 23:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CrossWords · 20/10/2010 23:48

I'm sorry - Times New Roman 12 is THE RIGHT WAY. Your documents are just weird to me, otherwise. I do actually twitch at other fonts. IT DOESNT LOOK RIGHT, FREAKS

said · 20/10/2010 23:52

Isn't Garamond a lovely word - sounds like a moon. Like the name Tahoma as well. And Lucida

Times New Roman is horrid - used to be our work default but now it's the ubiquitous Arial. Can't change fonts at all in emails now.

Just discovered Juice ITC - think I like it. Totally unreadable, I imagine for long amounts of text

CrossWords · 20/10/2010 23:54

No. Times New Roman is the right one.

it matters.

CrossWords · 20/10/2010 23:58

Ah - I work in law, was talking about documents. Email, I dont care what font used. 200 pages of a document - yes, I want it to be Times New Roman 12 point.