# What font do you use? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 17, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665 "2004-05-17T21:51:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/21 "2004-05-18T04:51:19Z")
Copperplate Gothic Light 10pt. [Size 2 on this chart](http://www-1.gsb.columbia.edu/cis/webtutor/makapage/dafonts/fontpile/cgl.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/22 "2004-05-18T05:03:24Z")
I’m quite partial to the [Bitstream Vera](http://www.bitstream.com/categories/products/fonts/vera/) font family. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/23 "2004-05-18T05:42:31Z")
Arial for web work. I really love a particular Goudy font (can’t remember, the exact name—I think it’s “Old Style” but I haven’t got it loaded on this computer right now). For print work it currently is Adobe Garamond. I’m also particular to Big Caslon. ---
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/24 "2004-05-18T06:16:05Z")
I have always been partial to Lucida sans and Lucida Handwriting. I am big old fake because I type letters to my childrens teachers in lucida handwriting. OT: There is a manager at work that I’m trying to get to write me a death threat letter because, swear to god, her handwriting is that of a serial killer. Its scrawled and spiky, kind of like its dripping blood. It would give me nightmares in our weekly meetings. I so badly want to go to her computer and switch the font on her Word to Matisse ITC! ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/25 "2004-05-18T08:25:22Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > . . .plain ol’ Courier. I didn’t think anyone but court reporters use that any more! Programmers use it all the time. Code in Java, C, C++, C#, SQL (gawd help us XML) looks plain weird in anything else. Only VB programmers use proportional fonts (the perverts). ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/26 "2004-05-18T09:42:11Z")
Arial. It was the official font in my previous office, and, well, monotony is comforting. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/27 "2004-05-18T11:47:09Z")
Goudy Old Style for print (for big headings, Arial rounded bold). For web stuff, Arial. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/28 "2004-05-18T11:58:33Z")
I like Courier for anything that’s in plain text (IRC, writing stories, email). For other stuff…I don’t much care, really, as long as it’s fairly basic. Usually end up going with whatever I’m using defaults to. ---
**Author:** ![electrozion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85f322/32.png) [@electrozion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/electrozion)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/29 "2004-05-18T13:43:22Z")
I don’t really understand this attitude towards the Comic Sans. I like it. I noticed a downright hateful attitude against the Comic Sans on the messageboard of [b3ta.com](http://www.b3ta.com) and on NADS. didn’t Know of [http://bancomicsans.com/](http://bancomicsans.com/) though. As a grafik designer I use lots different fonts - I don’t really have a favorite (I’d like to say a condensed Garamond - like in the old Apple ads - but I can’t limit myself to just one style) . I even did some fonts myself, but [these](http://www.augenbluten.de/_united/fonts/index.html) are cleary not for everyday use. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/30 "2004-05-18T14:28:24Z")
I don’t stick to a single font, because I’d get bored with any of them if I used them to the exclusion of others. I like New Century Schoolbook, Bookman Old Style, Palatino, and Garamond for proportional serif fonts; for proportional sans serif fonts there aren’t that many I’m fond of (most of them are ugly and look like each other —Helvetica, Arial, Gill Sans, Verdana, ugh ugh ugh) but I do like Architect, Bellerose (which may fly by another more mainstream name, I think this one may be a knockoff from a low-end font factory), Optima, and Century Gothic. For fixed-width purposes, despite my preference for fonts with serifs in proportional, it’s just gotta be Monaco. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/31 "2004-05-18T14:50:24Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Programmers use it all the time. Code in Java, C, C++, C#, SQL (gawd help us XML) looks plain weird in anything else. Only VB programmers use proportional fonts (the perverts). Yeah, when I send code snippets to my coworkers or boss, I change that section to Courier. Much easier to read. A lot of agents still want novels formatted in traditional manuscript format (double-spaced, 10-or-12 point Courier) I usually choose Arial, but lately it’s been Georgia since that’s what my publisher requires. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/32 "2004-05-18T17:42:25Z")
I think Verdana looks wonderful onscreen, so all of my Web browsers are set to use it. For a serif font, I like Bookman and Georgia. And nothing screams “amateur!” like Comic Sans. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/33 "2004-05-18T18:03:25Z")
Baskerville or Bodoni, if available. They give a text a nice booky feeling. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/34 "2004-05-18T19:59:30Z")
Bodoni is nice, and is what IBM used for eons. It’s got a fairly low x-height, and has nice elegant lines. I don’t care to read a whole lot of it though at small sizes. And I do so want to smack a co-worker for their incessant use of Comic Sans. I did our departmental website in Arial, Arial and Arial. :dubious: In this curiously constrained environment, I can count on my visitors NOT to have anything interesting. I initially used Trebuchet for titles, but when I found that not everyone had it, and the Arial substitution looked dorky in terms of how line breaks were broken, I gave up and went with something that was guaranteed to be on every PC. nit-picking alert… What most people call a font is really a typeface. A font is a specific typeface at a specific size and weight/style. The usage dates back to when type was physical bits of metal and it was impossible to change its size or style except for going out and buying another case of type. Bodoni is a typeface. 10pt Bodoni book is a font. 12pt Bodoni book is another font. 10pt Bodoni italic is yet another font. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/35 "2004-05-18T20:01:12Z")
I’ll third the reference to Trebuchet. Clean and readable, and yet just slightly different enough to be interesting. And while I also dislike Comic Sans, I don’t think it should be banned. I think it should remain available so we have an easy means of badging the amateurs. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/36 "2004-05-18T20:21:19Z")
Because I have astigmatism I go for a font that doesn’t “blur” too badly when I’m reading. I used to use a Lucida font, but my pooter doesn’t have that particular Lucida one, so I use Comic Sans. Here, I use navy verdana, which I find the easiest to view ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/37 "2004-05-18T20:22:38Z")
I’m a Garamond woman. I know a lot of Comic Sans users, and it gets so boring! I have fun collecting fonts for which I then have no use–especially old-fashioned looking ones (you know, it looks like fancy 16th century handwriting, or something). What’s your favorite font-collecting site? I used to use the Font Garden, but theyve changed their format and now I find it unusable; the software clashes with mine or something and it won’t even load. ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/38 "2004-05-18T20:23:21Z")
I like to use Papyrus font when I’m not doing anything that has to look too professional. ---
**Author:** ![Parallax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Parallax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parallax)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/39 "2004-05-18T20:47:15Z")
> [@Small Clanger](#): > > Programmers use it all the time. Code in Java, C, C++, C#, SQL (gawd help us XML) looks plain weird in anything else. Only VB programmers use proportional fonts (the perverts). Who are you calling a pervert? I’ve never seen a VB developer use a proportional font. ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665/40 "2004-05-18T21:29:25Z")
Times New Roman. Don’t really care much though. I’ve just always used it. No need to change. It works for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-font-do-you-use/245665.md?page=3)