Based on this exchange among Kimstu, Starving Artist, and Kaylasdad.
It’s hard to do rhetorical emphasis with Trebuchet. The bold in Trebuchet barely stands out, and the italic doesn’t stand out at all. Underline looks like a visited link. And all caps is considered rude. So I was wondering if maybe we could switch to Verdana, which by the way, also has the advantage of using Latin "I"s (with bars on top and bottom). That helps when you’re not sure if the user’s name is lan or Ian.
Verdana is a bit wider than Trebuchet, so if that’s a problem then Tahoma would be a reasonable substitute. It’s like a more narrow Verdana.
So, could we change our style sheets? No? Okay, thanks anyway.
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Verdana:
It’s hard to do rhetorical emphasis with Trebuchet. The bold in Trebuchet barely stands out, and the italic doesn’t stand out at all. Underline looks like a visited link. And all caps is considered rude. So I was wondering if maybe we could switch to Verdana, which by the way, also has the advantage of using Latin "I"s (with bars on top and bottom). That helps when you’re not sure if the user’s name is lan or Ian.
Tahoma:
It’s hard to do rhetorical emphasis with Trebuchet. The bold in Trebuchet barely stands out, and the italic doesn’t stand out at all. Underline looks like a visited link. And all caps is considered rude. So I was wondering if maybe we could switch to Verdana, which by the way, also has the advantage of using Latin "I"s (with bars on top and bottom). That helps when you’re not sure if the user’s name is lan or Ian.
Bold in current default font.
*Italic *in current default font.
Underline in current default font.
Bold in Verdana
*Italic *in Verdana
Underline in Verdana
Bold in Tahoma
*Italic *in Tahoma
Underline in Tahoma
If it’s an option, I think either Verdana or Tahoma is easier to look at (although I don’t think the “underline looks like a visited link” issue will go away).
Didn’t we used to be in Verdana? I could have sworn that we did. But now I can’t remember - and I definitely don’t remember changing fonts. I’m losing it.
Font changes, if any implemented at all, are the kind of thing that should be settled with a board-wide opinion poll rather than listening to a small number of people in ATMB.
If the default font for posts were to change, I say go with Georgia as the default.
I’m happy overall with the default font – the other examples above don’t look nice – but I would like a more prominent italics. It’s true that italicized words barely stand out.
My vote’s for Palatino Linotype Here we have the bold Here we have the italic
And here we have the underlined
Maybe we could increase the default size and make the default color green, too.
I like the serif fonts. (Big green letters optional)
I like to use bold, and it bugs me a little that it doesn’t stand out that well.
The differences between the fonts in how the emphasis stands out seem to be more apparent when only one short word is emphasized and the sentences are separated. It’s clear Trebuchet is inferior in emphasis. If it came to a vote, I’d vote for a change.
Of the three under discussion here, I prefer Trebuchet. Verdana looks too big and bulky (especially when bolded), and Tahoma looks too cramped. The I/l distinction is a good point, but Trebuchet also distinguishes between them (by changing the l, instead of changing the I).
When you set your browser to override, it seriously screws up all other sites you visit.
The problem with any default we choose, is that someone is bound to dislike it. Not setting a default leaves it good for all to set up but doesn’t mess up the rest of the interwebs.
