# Verdana?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 13, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954 "2002-03-13T00:07:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954/1 "2002-03-13T00:07:40Z")

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Maybe I forgot what the old SDMB _really_ looked like, but for whatever reason the stock Verdana font seems … well, a bit odd. Refresh my foggy memory – was the default font displayed in the SDMB always Verdana?

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954/2 "2002-03-13T00:20:56Z")

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It seems the old site used Verdana but at a smaller font size.

See this sample page, archived at the wayback machine:

[Comments on Cecil’s Columns from 19 September 2001](http://web.archive.org/web/20010927192618/boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)

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**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954/3 "2002-03-13T01:30:14Z")

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Nope. That gives me my default browser font – Arial. Then again, Arial could have been designated in a stylesheet.

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954/4 "2002-03-13T02:38:12Z")

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My mistake. I was looking at the forum headers and not the thread subject text. And the only way I could be sure which font is which was by looking at the source code for the page.

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**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954/5 "2002-03-13T02:52:59Z")

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Personally, I prefer Verdana to Arial. YMMV.

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**Author:** ![femtosecond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2002, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verdana/97954/6 "2002-03-13T12:55:56Z")

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Back then the HTML tag in front of post text was \<FONT face=“arial, helvetica” size=“2” \>.  
Now we seem to have \<font face=“verdana, arial, helvetica” size=“2” \>.

So computers with verdana installed will look different now,  
others will fall back to the same arial they displayed before,  
or if it was helvetica, you likely have a non-Windows PC.

Sorry, but I’ll get nightmares, if I don’t close’em: \</font\>\</font\>. phew.