# I've Got to Try Out ALL the Fonts. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 21, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437 "2004-01-21T06:40:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/1 "2004-01-21T06:40:25Z")
I am not sure what _all_ the fonts are for. Whenever I try one, it seems to be very similiar to the default setting. Perhaps the font function is just turned off :smack: . In any event, I just have to satisfy my curiosity (and others, I’m sure). **So here are all the fonts, in all their glory:** Arial Arial Black Arial Narrow Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Fixedsys Franklin Gothic Medium Garamond Georgia Impact Lucida Console Lucida Sans Unicode Microsoft Sans Serif Palatino Linotype System Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana Well, I hope that was informative 🙂 . (Now if I only knew where they got all those weird names from 😉 .) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/2 "2004-01-21T11:07:49Z")
It strikes me how boring and similar the set of ‘common’ fonts are. Surely these days we can afford, no matter what our OS, to have hundreds of common fonts. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/3 "2004-01-22T05:52:04Z")
Serif v. Sans serif… 5 to 16. What’s Cecil got against serif? ## Peace. “Comic Sans should be outlawed.” - God ---
**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/4 "2004-01-22T06:35:50Z")
testtesttest **test** test test ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/5 "2004-01-22T12:51:38Z")
It is worth mentioning that you can specify any font you like within the font tags, the catch is that it will only display properly if other people’s browsers know what to do with it and the font is locally installed, for example: _test_ Displays as a short Code3of9 barcode on my screen, because I have a font called “Free 3 of 9 Extended” installed on my machine, but I expect that for most of you, it looks just like _ **test** _. Most browsers are able to substitute a similar font for the common ones, so a Mac without Arial might substitute Helvetica, but these substitutions are presets - the browser isn’t _intelligently_ choosing a substitute. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/6 "2004-01-22T13:56:26Z")
testtesttest ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/7 "2004-01-23T09:11:41Z")
A quick test of sizes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/8 "2004-01-24T00:46:41Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > What’s Cecil got against serif? Type serifs tend to either disappear or get distorted when rendered for the relatively low resolution of computer monitors, thus reducing the readability of on-screen text, especially at the smaller sizes. In fact, on-screen readability is a big enough issue that both Apple and Microsoft have tackled it, and at least in MS’s case, new typefaces were created (e.g., Tahoma and [Verdana](http://www.will-harris.com/verdana-georgia.htm), both designed by Matthew Carter) specifically for computer displays. Incidentally, the problem of rendering type legible in small sizes also has a counterpart in print. In one instance, AT&T was trying to cram in as many entries into as few pages as possible for their phone books, and enlisted the aforementioned Mr. Carter to design a new typeface, which was released in 1976 and known as [Bell Centennial](http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/bell-centennial/familytree.html). Similarly, in the 1930s Stanley Morison designed Times Roman for the _Times of London_ with [space economy](http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/P/P_145.jhtml) in mind. Well, this little discussion naturally leads us to **Jim B** ’s question: > [@](#): > > _Now if I only knew where they got all those weird names from_ As you may suspect, there is no systematic way to name fonts, and I certainly don’t know the history of all of them. Anyway, I’ve already touched on Times Roman, though you may be interested to read about where the “[New](http://www.truetype.demon.co.uk/articles/times.htm)” part comes from. [Garamond](http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typeTalk/garamond/index2.html) is named after its creator, the 16th Century typographer, and today it is one of the most frequently used fonts, with many, many variants. [Franklin Gothic](http://store.bitstream.com/linotype/lino_franklin.asp) was designed by Morris Fuller Benton and named after Benjamin Franklin. [Palatino](http://www.mindspring.com/~fez/palatino/palfaq1.0.txt) was designed just after WW2 by the great Hermann Zapf and modeled on Italian Renaissance letterforms, and Linotype was the name of a type vendor and typesetting machine. And Comic Sans, I agree, is an abomination. > [@Lobsang](#): > > Surely these days we can afford, no matter what our OS, to have hundreds of common fonts. It probably has to do with licensing issues. Font designs – which are esentially programs – are [copyrighted](http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_13.htm#SEC33), and these copyright holders may not want to lose control by having so many of their creations bundled with every computer or piece of software sold, because that’ll lead people to think of these fonts as free and in the public domain, when they really aren’t. And good fonts cost good money. Sure, you can get cheap knock-offs, but they look like hell. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-got-to-try-out-all-the-fonts/225437/9 "2004-01-24T01:16:20Z")
> [@Jim B.](#): > > Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.