Author Topic: What is your preferred font? (Read 107064 times)

mwb1100 · « **Reply #125 on:** May 30, 2010, 12:53 AM »

mwb1100; your's are fine.
But what font do you have for default in that browser?
-Curt (May 29, 2010, 12:36 PM)

My screenshot was from FireFox 3.6.3. The Default font is "Times New Roman", size 16. In the 'Advanced' font dialog, the following options are set:

- Proportional: Serif
- Serif: Times New Roman
- Sans-serif: Arial
- Monospace: Courier New

And "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above" is checked.

I think that the page is choosing its own font - browsers typically use the font specified by the web page, unless that font isn't installed on the system. Actually, web pages can specify a set of acceptable fonts or font-families, and the browser will choose the first match (if possible). Only if no match is found will it end up using the default.

My CSS skills are pretty sketchy, but from what I can tell, it looks like that webpage is specifying that one of the following fonts be used (in order of preference):

- Helvetica, Arial, "Liberation Sans", "Bitstream Vera Sans", sans-serif

My Vista system doesn't have a "Helvetica" font, but all Windows systems do (or should) have "Arial". Maybe your system has a font named "Helvetica" installed that doesn't work as well as Arial for this page?

Curt · « **Reply #126 on:** May 30, 2010, 02:58 AM »

-my font settings are just like yours. And Yes, I have a family named Helvetica. But the family is so big that the father was named Helvetica-Normal, just to stand out! Though, whether it really is normal, I am not qualified to tell:

click for large:

What is your preferred font?

click for large:

What is your preferred font?

Great, now I "must" also purchase myself a font manager! $:-\$

tomos · « **Reply #127 on:** May 30, 2010, 12:50 PM »

My Vista system doesn't have a "Helvetica" font, but all Windows systems do (or should) have "Arial". Maybe your system has a font named "Helvetica" installed that doesn't work as well as Arial for this page?
-mwb1100 (May 30, 2010, 12:53 AM)

I have seen (and not fully understood) in some programme that listed fonts in a file I created, that Arials 'Postscript name' is actually Helvetica - this was with the Arial font that came with XP (SP2) which is some sort of mongrel TrueType/OpenType
__________________

Curt,
you dont need to buy a font manager (unless you have big plans!) there's a bunch of free ones out there - Veign has a free/donationware one - Cfontpro
http://www.cfontpro.com/

Curt · « **Reply #128 on:** May 30, 2010, 02:16 PM »

I am impressed how much Veign has done to Cfont Pro since the last time I tried it some years ago. I will certainly test it for some time. Thanks, Tom!

tomos · « **Reply #129 on:** May 30, 2010, 03:07 PM »

I am impressed how much Veign has done to Cfont Pro since the last time I tried it some years ago. I will certainly test it for some time. Thanks, Tom!
-Curt (May 30, 2010, 02:16 PM)

there's probably a bunch of other free ones too - I have a paid one (MainType) - but that cause I won it here on dc

I'm sure there's a thread here on the subject too ... Font managers reviews and opinions

Curt · « **Reply #130 on:** May 30, 2010, 04:08 PM »

I have seen (and not fully understood) in some programme that listed fonts in a file I created, that Arials 'Postscript name' is actually Helvetica - this was with the Arial font that came with XP (SP2) which is some sort of mongrel TrueType/OpenType
-tomos (May 30, 2010, 12:50 PM)

I don't understand much of it either, but Wikipedia says this:

Similar typefaces

Comparison of Helvetica and Arial.

Generic versions of Helvetica have been made by various vendors, including Monotype Imaging (CG Triumvirate), ParaType (Pragmatica), Bitstream (Swiss 721), URW (Nimbus Sans).

Monotype's Arial, designed in 1982, while different from Helvetica in some few details, has identical character widths, and is indistinguishable by most non-specialists. The capital letters C, G, and R, as well as the lowercase letters a, e, r, and t, are useful for quickly distinguishing Arial and Helvetica.[13] Differences include:

   * Helvetica's strokes are typically cut either horizontally or vertically. This is especially visible in the t, r, f, and C. Arial employs slanted stroke cuts.
   * Helvetica's G has a well-defined spur; Arial does not.
   * The tails of the R glyphs and the a glyphs are different.

"Helv", later known as "MS Sans Serif", is a sans-serif typeface that shares many key characteristics to Helvetica, including the horizontally and vertically aligned stroke terminators and more uniformed stroke widths within a glyph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica
-Wikipedia, about Helvetica

and more on http://en.wikipedia....nt_family_%28HTML%29

Curt · « **Reply #131 on:** May 30, 2010, 05:08 PM »

MainType... cause I won it here on dc

I'm sure there's a thread here on the subject too ... Font managers reviews and opinions
-tomos (May 30, 2010, 03:07 PM)

From time to time I have purchased some cheap font managers, only to find they later (or already) were abandoned. I guess one of my prime reasons for buying "cheap" have been the price of the recommended ones. $49 and $59 may be okay prices for MainType 3 and FontExpert 2010, if they were to keep for life. But they are not lifetime licenses, and the upgrade prices are $29 and $39 - making especially FontExpert much too expensive, I think. Changes are not that big, it seems, but major versions come quick (*ALMOST* as often as Ashampoo!)!

Did you stick with your gratis version 2, tomos, or have you paid the $29 fee?

tomos · « **Reply #132 on:** May 31, 2010, 07:13 AM »

From time to time I have purchased some cheap font managers, only to find they later (or already) were abandoned. I guess one of my prime reasons for buying "cheap" have been the price of the recommended ones. $49 and $59 may be okay prices for MainType 3 and FontExpert 2010, if they were to keep for life. But they are not lifetime licenses, and the upgrade prices are $29 and $39 - making especially FontExpert much too expensive, I think. Changes are not that big, it seems, but major versions come quick (*ALMOST* as often as Ashampoo!)!

Did you stick with your gratis version 2, tomos, or have you paid the $29 fee?
-Curt (May 30, 2010, 05:08 PM)

I moved my response to the Font Managers thread
https://www.donation....msg207300#msg207300

superboyac · « **Reply #133 on:** June 01, 2010, 01:22 PM »

I uninstalled gdipp from my work computer. It made just about every program running on it give errors of some sort. I took it off and everything works well again. but I liked what it did with the fonts.

Curt · « **Reply #134 on:** June 01, 2010, 02:05 PM »

I also removed it, but only because the difference before/after made me ehh... indifferent...

Curt · « **Reply #135 on:** August 05, 2010, 06:14 PM »

Yesterday SoftMaker launched a new font family, Ballantines:
http://new.myfonts.c.../ballantines-serial/

All 7 fonts: only $29.99

click for large (723x585 pixels):

What is your preferred font?

Only the fat (bold) font is part of SoftMaker's infiniType 3 http://www.infinityp...tinesSerial-Bold.htm , the rest is so new it isn't even on SoftMaker's site, yet.

Edited:
The word processor will merely display these seven fonts as six fonts because bold of course is regular plus the bold button, (I searched for a long time before understanding this).

Tuxman · « **Reply #136 on:** August 05, 2010, 08:31 PM »

Whew, now I tried to live without gdipp for some hours and noticed that I don't like it anymore. (Running 0.8.2 here.)

superboyac · « **Reply #137 on:** August 05, 2010, 09:58 PM »

Whew, now I tried to live without gdipp for some hours and noticed that I don't like it anymore. (Running 0.8.2 here.)
-Tuxman (August 05, 2010, 08:31 PM)

I did really like what gdipp did to the fonts. But it was causing almost all of the computer's programs to have errors.

Tuxman · « **Reply #138 on:** August 05, 2010, 10:01 PM »

None of mine! The 0.7.x versions had some problems, but all of them are solved in 0.8 AFAICS. At least for me...

Curt · « **Reply #139 on:** August 06, 2010, 05:06 AM »

Comic Sans, Trebuchet, and others, have been updated with new features like Ligatures, and Swash and Stylistic Alternates (for Microsoft Publisher).
Add "2010" to the font name.
Payware.

Ascender 2010 Font Pack: http://www.fontmarke...ender-2010-pack.aspx

40hz · « **Reply #140 on:** August 06, 2010, 09:30 AM »

Bitstream hosts a very informative website for people interested in type.

It was recently redesigned, and IMHO is better than ever.

Link here: http://new.myfonts.com

They also do a great monthly newsletter where they interview a type designer each issue. Good source for insights into the artistic and technical design process of type. Very well written so it's also a "good read."

You can view current and back issues at the website, or subscibe and have it come to your mailbox. This is one of the very few newsletters I do subscribe to.

Recommended.

tomos · « **Reply #141 on:** August 06, 2010, 02:10 PM »

This is pretty scary youtube video in lots of ways - but I found it very funny too - and I like the font :p

What is your preferred font?

Neutraface

via Fast Company

MilesAhead · « **Reply #142 on:** February 27, 2011, 06:03 PM »

I finally found a good use for the RayGun font. It looks good as idx/sub subtitles made by AviAddXSubs. After experimentation I found out that my WD HD TV for USB set top box will show the subtitle border if YUV option is checked on Configuration 2 page.

Unfortunately I have 1st gen WD player and it does not display colors for external idx/sub subtitles. But at least this scheme stands out even over a white background. With YUV option checked it shows a funky color on the PC which deterred me from trying the setting earlier. But on the WD box it looks like the standard white characters with black border.

I think the RayGun font looks much better than Tahoma or Ariel for subs. It doesn't have the puffy periphery I dislike.

superboyac · « **Reply #143 on:** February 27, 2011, 07:05 PM »

I finally found a good use for the RayGun font. It looks good as idx/sub subtitles made by AviAddXSubs. After experimentation I found out that my WD HD TV for USB set top box will show the subtitle border if YUV option is checked on Configuration 2 page.

Unfortunately I have 1st gen WD player and it does not display colors for external idx/sub subtitles. But at least this scheme stands out even over a white background. With YUV option checked it shows a funky color on the PC which deterred me from trying the setting earlier. But on the WD box it looks like the standard white characters with black border.

I think the RayGun font looks much better than Tahoma or Ariel for subs. It doesn't have the puffy periphery I dislike.

-MilesAhead (February 27, 2011, 06:03 PM)

Can you show a screenshot? It sounds cool!

MilesAhead · « **Reply #144 on:** February 27, 2011, 07:54 PM »

Here's how it looks in the preview, but on the WD player it looks a bit different. I little more angular probably because the anti-alias isn't as good as on the PC.

edit: I also just ran across a mono-spaced font, Crystal, that may be better for subs. I'll have to experiment with it for a bit.

You can get Crystal free here:

http://www.urbanfont...om/fonts/Crystal.htm

edit2: RayGun is available at urban fonts and Softpedia. I ran md5 and RayGun downloads from both locations are exactly the same files.

edit3: here's a preview with the Crystal mono font:

superboyac · « **Reply #145 on:** February 27, 2011, 08:26 PM »

That IS cool. I like that. Gives it almost a comic book feel to it.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #146 on:** February 27, 2011, 08:44 PM »

That IS cool. I like that. Gives it almost a comic book feel to it.
-superboyac (February 27, 2011, 08:26 PM)

I'm glad I got the borders to show black because I kept moving my head when the subs were over a white background, as if that would help me read them. Drove me nuts.

This WD box ain't so bad. Main thing is 1st gen doesn't automatically down sample DTS. I have to convert the audio track to AC3. Still, it handles just about any format. .mp4 .mkv .m2ts and HD .avi all look great.

The other downside, if you have a DVD image or VIDEO_TS folder with a main movie it's ok. But if it's an episodic DVD like from a TV show you can't get by the first title set. No menu support. For $100 it ain't bad though.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #147 on:** March 17, 2011, 06:01 PM »

I found a free PC TTF implementation of Fontin font that looks even better as subtitles. They say it's designed for smaller sizes. Very easy to read on the TV.

http://www.exljbris.com/fontin.html

Here's a screen shot. This is font size 18 with border width of 3 for a 720P video

Curt · « **Reply #148 on:** March 17, 2011, 06:30 PM »

I think the RayGun font looks much better ...
-MilesAhead (February 27, 2011, 06:03 PM)

Yeah, it is really good looking!

Sadly, it isn't Unicode. Not even close. Is it old? (no €)

click to enlarge to 735x1506 pixels:

What is your preferred font?

MilesAhead · « **Reply #149 on:** March 17, 2011, 07:59 PM »

...

Sadly, it isn't Unicode. Not even close. Is it old? (no €)

-Curt (March 17, 2011, 06:30 PM)

I use AviAddXSubs for .srt to idx/sub conversion. It only likes Ansi .srt anyway.

edit: I'm finding some very nice fonts here:
http://www.urbanfonts.com/

but I don't think they categorize by unicode compliance. I searched unicode and only got 3 hits. I suspect it only searches name/description. Found some nice monospaced that don't look lame. Nice site.