# What are your favorite fonts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583 "2002-07-12T07:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/21 "2002-07-12T15:35:17Z")
Comic Sans - use it in almost everything. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/22 "2002-07-12T16:24:53Z")
At work it’s mostly TNR Arial/Helvetica, but I like to spice things up with some raids from Free Font sites. Chinese Takeaway Fat Free (great for elementary school designs) Grinched (looks like Dr. Suess) Goudy Handtooled (It’s a good representation of the engraved font you’d see on bank vaults) Jester Knight’s Quest Lost Passenger (for outright strangeness) Lovecraft’s Diary (font for the Necronomicon) Oxalic (goofy) Umberto ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/23 "2002-07-12T17:09:24Z")
**Garamond** is probably my favorite all-around, general use font. I use it most for my web work, but I use it elsewhere too. Apart from that, **Trajan** is my favorite serif font. I use that in many things, it’s very elegant. For decorative fonts, I’ve found that I really like using **Codex** and the capitals set from **Cretino** , which are very ornate. In fact, a great decorative combination is **Cretino** capitals with **Dauphin** (or **Dolphin** ) lowercase. I made some wedding invitations with that combination, and they came out gorgeous. **Fake Plastic** is a great narrow, sans-serif font. Very useful. \*\*Formata[b/] is a nice all-purpose number. For handwriting fonts, which I use only rarely, I love **Fountain Pen Frenzy** and **Texas Hero**. The latter looks like a Civil War-era style of handwriting; very cool. I like all sorts of fonts, but those are my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/24 "2002-07-12T17:10:43Z")
Crap… apologies for the poor formatting on that last post. Typing too fast. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/25 "2002-07-12T17:19:15Z")
Well, my all-time favorite typeface is still Bruce Rogers’ [Centaur](http://www.serifmagazine.com/dh-centaur.php4). I used it, and the companion italic, derived from Frederick Warde’s Arrighi, to set our wedding invitations several years ago. It’s certainly the most gorgeous example of the typecutter’s art in our century. I’m not big fan of Venetian faces in general – Centaur’s the exception rather than the rule: I don’t have much use for Berkeley Old Style, Italia, Schneidler, _et al._. I tend to prefer the Aldine faces: Bembo, Granjon, most Garamonds (except ITC Garamond), etc. I particularly like Stempel Garamond, and have used Adobe Garamond a lot. There are a number of transitional faces I’m fond of – Rudolph Ruzicka’s Fairfield, Bell, several of the more authentic Baskervilles (though again, _not_ that dreck that ITC calls New Baskerville), Berling, Caledonia, Eric Gill’s Perpetua and Joanna, some of the better Caslons. Most Modern faces leave me cold, though there are a few I like: Bulmer, DeVinne, etc. If I have to have a Bodoni, make it Bauer Bodoni please. In the sans serif world, there’s a reason Helvetica has become ubiquitous. However, when I need something a bit different, I generally see how Frutiger looks before looking elsewhere. I’ve also found good uses for Gill Sans, Trade Gothic, Franklin Gothic, Neuzeit Grotesk, and a few others. As for display faces, there’s a ton of stuff I’d love to find a good use for, but that’s highly dependent on the tone I’m trying to achieve. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/26 "2002-07-12T17:31:01Z")
Hehe. I have fonts that I love but have never used lol ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/27 "2002-07-12T17:32:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rackensack \* > **Well, my all-time favorite typeface is still Bruce Rogers’ [Centaur](http://www.serifmagazine.com/dh-centaur.php4).** Centaur is a gorgeous font… I just finished reading a book that was set in Centaur, and I kept remarking how nice the font looked. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/28 "2002-07-12T17:40:38Z")
Given my choice: **Sans Serif** [Optima](http://www.masterstech-home.com/The_Library/Font_Samples/Font_Indices/Image_Pages/O/Optima.html) (aka Optimum, Zapf Humanist) – a nice, weighted sans serif, though it looks much better printed than on a computer screen. **Serif** [Souvenir](http://www.adobe.com/type/browser/P/P_1082.jhtml) – Very sharp and elegant. Alas, hard to find for free. ---
**Author:** ![aquariusrhimme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aquariusrhimme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aquariusrhimme)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/29 "2002-07-12T19:03:31Z")
It depends on what I’m doing and what mood I’m in as far as fancy fonts go, but the preinstalled font that seem to always go for is Courier New ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/30 "2002-07-12T19:46:51Z")
Adobe Garamond is a marvelous serif font; very elegant. I use it for my résumé. For headlines and such, I’m rather fond of Copperplate. I also use Impact a lot, for stuff like making CD labels. And I still dig Zapf Chancery. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/31 "2002-07-12T20:47:30Z")
Hobby Headline, Desdemona, Hyena, Intrepid Hobby Headline is like a Dukes of Hazzard type font, I had to download it. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/32 "2002-07-12T20:58:59Z")
Has anyone ever heard of a program designed in India that allows you to handwrite a short paragraph, scan it into a program and from then on, everything you type will be in your own handwriting? But for regular font, Arial is the winner with me as well. Crisp, clean and easy to read in almost any size on the computer and on paper. ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/33 "2002-07-12T23:22:30Z")
For sans serif, I like Trebuchet MS and Frutiger Linotype, although I try not to use them so much anymore (because I would use them so frequently). Serif, I usually just use Georgia if it’s a web page. Book Antiqua is beautiful italicized and I also like Garamond. When I want a nice serif in Photoshop, I usually just go to the Ps and try to decide whether Palatia, Paramount, Perpetua, or Palladius looks best. 🙂 As for fonts more suited for titles and such than text, I don’t have any on the top of my mind because I tend not to use any much more than once, but I guess GroupSex is pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/34 "2002-07-13T01:02:01Z")
While I’ve noticed that people who send me text files seem to universally like courier, I can’t stand it. The only font I ever use in documents is Times New Roman. Although I do use the X-files font with paint shop pro 7 now and again. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/35 "2002-07-13T01:18:15Z")
**Opal** - Where do you find the fonts? Are they free? BTW - your page 16 won’t load. StG ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/36 "2002-07-13T04:22:09Z")
Goudy Old Style for text I don’t really have favorites for artsy type fonts. I use whatever seems appropriate for what I’m doing. I do tend to like Art Deco styled fonts especially. Andes comes to mind as one I’ve used a few times. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/37 "2002-07-13T15:53:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Mmmm, it’s still Arial/Helvetica all the way for me, I’m afraid; I like the clean uncomplicated look - less is more. \*\* I agree. We use either Arial Narrow or Helvetic Narrow for a lot of our copy because it’s very clean and easy to read. We use Arial or Helvetica on-line because some computer screens can make serif fonts a bit tough on the eyes (and because HTML still tend to crowd text a bit, making it even worse). For funkyicool fonts, I really like one called **Grotto** because it’s both round and pointy – however it’s not something that you can apply very often, so I’m still waiting for a good oppotunity to do so. If I need something particularly unusual, I get it front [AcidFonts.com](http://AcidFonts.com). They also have a fun “sci-fi” section where you can get Star Trek fonts, Battlestar Galactica fonts etc. They have a huge batch of free fonts (several for Mac as well) and they are organized very well with a search funciton. On the downside _annoying freakin’ pop-up windows!_ Grrrr! ---
**Author:** ![Ripple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@Ripple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ripple)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/38 "2002-07-14T02:35:00Z")
I end up using Times New Roman more often than not. I alway try other stuff, but keep coming back to Times. Boring, I know. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/39 "2002-07-14T04:12:51Z")
There are many font archives on the web where you can download free fonts. I actually made my own font once, based on an alphabet that I made up during study hall in high school. It’s much more efficient than regular writing… takes less space and it’s faster to write. Those advantages are, of course, lost on a font. Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583/40 "2002-07-14T04:18:54Z")
[Maitre-d Regular](http://www.citlink.net/~hhous/maitre-d.gif). I love it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favorite-fonts/118583.md?page=3)