# Why does everyone hate Comic Sans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2009, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676 "2009-04-20T01:10:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lunar\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lunar\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunar_elf)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/61 "2009-05-30T19:01:41Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > A relevant [video](http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766). Sometimes, Comic Sans is what you need. The [goofy suit](http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1908292)… ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/62 "2009-05-30T19:30:16Z")
One font I wish I had taken with me from my time at Hallmark Cards was their custom Charles Shultz font. They had developed a font from Shultz’s _Peanuts_ lettering for their card line. It was a technically amazing font, with the most complex litigures and kerning pairs I’d ever seen. Apparently Schultz had a dozen distinct ways of drawing an “a” depending on the preceding and following letters. If I was still doing font work, I’d love to make one from R. Crumb’s lettering. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/63 "2009-05-30T19:31:22Z")
For readability on the printed page, it’s tough to beat Century Schoolbook, which was designed to be easy to scan (better for young readers). Feels a bit like TNR, but TNR was designed to squeeze a lot of text into a newspaper, and tends to be cramped. For on-screen, I like Verdana. Easy on the eyes, doesn’t draw attention to itself. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/64 "2009-05-30T19:33:16Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > I think the reason Comic Sans is hated is because it’s so overused. As the name implies, it works well if you’re doing a comic-type thing. But it’s often shown up in places where such lightheartedness is not required- or appropriate. It’s even been used on [coins](http://www.cnw.ca/images/rtphotos/Photo-3501.jpg), for God’s sake. It’s been seen on our official government Town Meeting Notices. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/65 "2009-05-30T19:37:21Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It’s been seen on our official government Town Meeting Notices. Could Sturgeon Bay be described as a Mickey Mouse town? ---
**Author:** ![Sans\_the\_Skeleton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sans\_the\_Skeleton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sans_the_Skeleton)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/66 "2016-06-06T20:08:45Z")
Maybe nobody likes me ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Taco\_the\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@Taco\_the\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taco_the_cat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/67 "2016-06-06T20:14:28Z")
This zombie thread is eating my brain or your brain or both. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/68 "2016-06-06T21:25:03Z")
[HELP PREVENT A TRAGEDY](http://cybermill.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/cs-tragedy-440x330.jpg) [Funeral Arrangements](http://i.imgur.com/wQlg7.jpg) [AMBULANCE](http://designblog.rietveldacademie.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Even-on-ambulances2.png) [IF YOU HAVE BEEN THE SUBJECT OF A RAPE OR SERIOUS SEXUAL ASSAULT AND WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO](http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2014/04/08/13/cs-police.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![CatastrophicFailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@CatastrophicFailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatastrophicFailure)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/69 "2016-06-06T21:47:26Z")
As long as this is resurrected, I’m going to leave this right here: [I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.](http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/70 "2016-06-06T22:33:47Z")
> [@Sans\_the\_Skeleton](#): > > Maybe nobody likes me ☹ For THIS, you had to resurrect a 7-year-old zombie? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/71 "2016-06-06T22:45:38Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > For THIS, you had to resurrect a 7-year-old zombie? Hey, go easy on the newbie. After all, he’s short some bones! Welcome to the Dope, **Sans the Skeleton**! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676/72 "2016-06-08T12:23:55Z")
Since it’s been rezzed, I might as well before it gets closed: > [@zweisamkeit](#): > > The smaller the font is, the harder it is to see the issues. They’re still there, though, dammit. > [@wunderkammer](#): > > Yeah, I admit that the awkwardness diminishes a bit as the text size decreases, > [@Sentient\_but\_Dumb](#): > > You can tell the quality of a font by increasing the size of the letters up to around 72pt or so. At that size the detail of the shapes is more apparent, and you can see how much care the designer put in. That’s why Comic Sans looks awful at larger sizes; it was put together to look okay when fairly small on screen. All of this has a ton to do with something called hinting. At smaller font sizes, the font is nudged to make it align with the pixel boundaries of your screen, making the letters clearer. This has an effect of removing the idiosyncrasies of the font. They’re not just too small to see–they aren’t there at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-everyone-hate-comic-sans/493676.md?page=3)