Types and Fonts

[Mark Arbour]

I've had some bitching about the font used for Will in Poor Man's Son, so I figured I'd get some feedback from you guys on which font is easier to read. Before you all get creative and start suggesting others, these are the choices I have using GA Stories. The only other choice is Arial, which I eliminated because it is too much like Verdana, which is my standard font. Below I've taken an excerpt from "Be Rad" (Chapter 8) to illustrate the fonts:

COURIER NEW

We came around a stand of trees and ran into three other guys who looked to be about our age. There was nothing significant about that, and there wouldn’t have been anything particularly significant about them, except one of them, the guy in the middle of the group, looked just like Billy. They noticed it too. All seven of us stopped and froze, just staring at each other like mutes.

Billy is tall, real tall; at 15 he was pushing 6'2”. He had dark blond hair, and a face that looked like that Tony Dow guy on the old “Leave it to Beaver” re-runs. This guy looked to be a little older than him, maybe about 17, but could pass for his twin. There was absolutely no way this similarity could be coincidental. It was too extreme, too identical.

COMIC SANS MS

Ace broke the ice, of course, by introducing himself. “Hey. I'm Ace, and these are my brothers Brad and Billy. And that's Jake.”

“Hey” said Billy's twin. The other guys with him seemed to fade away, laughing. I guess they had other things to do, or they really didn't give a shit about this guy. “I'm Robbie.”

Billy spoke next. “We look almost exactly alike. It's kind of weird. I have to say, though, that you are a very handsome guy.” We all started laughing at that. Billy had a good sense of humor when he let it out.

GEORGIA

“Yeah, you're a pretty nice looking guy too,” Robbie said, laughing nervously. “I guess I should catch up with my friends.”

“Wait a minute,” I heard myself saying. I immediately felt my shyness try to return and shut me up, but I overpowered it. “This is too weird. People just don’t end up looking exactly like each other unless they're related. We must be related in some way. What's your last name?”

“Hayes,” Robbie said, eying me suspiciously.

“Crampton,” Billy said in response.

LUCINDA SANS UNICODE

“Hey Robbie, I want you to meet our dad,” I said. “You mind hanging out with us and looking for him?”

That suggestion seemed to make him really uncomfortable, and that was something I could understand. If I met a bunch of strange guys and they asked me to hang with them, I’d be a little wary too. Ace was such a people person, always tuned in to social interactions, so he picked up on Robbie’s mood right away and intervened. “Yeah, that would be cool. And we can be pretty fun too. You like to get high?” Robbie smiled at that, so we dragged him back to our car and toked some of the weed we'd brought from Escorial.

TAHOMA

There was something about Robbie that I found really compelling. I'd never been particularly attracted to Billy, I mean he's my brother and all, but there was something about this guy that really turned me on. I chided myself, telling myself that anyone would find his great looks and his great body attractive, but it was more than that. His lavender eyes sparkled a certain way that seemed to pierce right through mine, and he seemed to feel it too. Despite his connection to Billy, he seemed drawn to me as much as I was drawn to him. The more we hung around together, the deeper that connection seemed to get.

This would have made me feel guilty if Jake wasn’t seriously pissing me off. He was flirting with Robbie shamelessly, so blatantly that the biggest ignoramus from the Appalachians would know he was gay. And it seemed to bother Robbie as much as it bothered me.

TREBUCHET MS

Now fully stoned, we started walking around, looking for our parents, to no avail. A few beers, a few more trips to the car, and we'd forgotten all about them. Robbie fit into our group seamlessly. At around 6pm and we realized that we were due to head up for the barbecue, and the thought of just bailing on Robbie seemed really sad.

“We have to go to a party up in the hills. You wanna come?” I asked him.

“Whose party?” He seemed suspicious.

“Crampton’s.”

He shook his head slightly. “My parents will be there. My father, Frank, works for Crampton Construction.”

TIMES NEW ROMAN

Ace picked up on that right away. “I think your father and mine are good friends.” I don't think Ace knew how tight their friendship actually was, but I did. I'd overheard a blistering argument that Sam and JP had last year about JP's habit of sneaking off with Frank Hayes to f**k around.

"They were invited, not me.”

“You were invited. We just invited you. It's at my grandparents' house. Come on,” Ace urged, almost pleading. I thanked myself for the zillionth time that he had such good people skills.

“Alright. Will I need anything?”

“Nope,” I told him. “We'll probably go swimming, but there are extra suits there.”

“Or you don't have to wear one,” Jake said in a slutty tone. I glared at him but it had no effect: he just ignored me. Robbie didn't seem to even hear him. Billy gave me that knowing look, and I finally just rolled my eyes in frustration.

“You guys go ahead up there and I'll ride with Robbie to make sure he doesn't get lost. Or puss out on us.” I joked.

“I'll go with you,” Jake said.

“I've only got a two-seat car,” Robbie said.

“I'll meet you up there in a few minutes,” I said firmly to Jake before he made some comment about sitting on my lap. He sulked off with Billy and Ace, while Robbie and I headed for his car. It was a 1968 Cadillac Eldorado and it was in perfect condition. Just like new.

[Johnathan Colourfield]

i voted Courier New simply because its a light font which isnt too bright to the eye but doesn't distract the eye either. Comic Sans was too distracting Personally i write in Courier also so that kind of sways my vote either that or times new roman

[methodwriter85]

I remember thinking that when you had that scene in PMS where Gathan showed Will his car, it would have been funny if Will said Gathan's car was "sick" and then Gathan got pissed off because he thought that was a diss. It would have been a great callback to this part in Be Rad. But then I was thinking, "2000 is a little too early for people to be saying something's 'sick." Oh, well. Maybe we can save that for JJ in 2006 or something. I could just see JJ saying something that pisses someone off unintentionally, or annoying some anal-retentive dude with his use of the word "sick". Sick is to my generation what "bad" was to yours, so it'll be cool for you to have some fun with it at some point.

 

Robbie and Brad's first meeting...aww.

 

Anyway, I'd go with Courier New, too.

[jian_sierra]

I like the look of Times New Roman more, I use it all the time

[K.C.]

I use Times New Roman. I think it’s easier on the eyes and most actual publications are printed in a similar font. Now, if you want to font to match the style of your story you might want to jazz it up a bit, but for reading, I think this is the easiest universally.

 

 

[Mark Arbour]

You're right that Times New Roman is most widely used, and it may be easier to read, but personally, I hate it. I think that it's popular just because it's been used so much. Just because you see something all the time, that doesn't make it good. Kind of like Donald Trump. Still, I put it in there to see what you all thought, and who knows, if enough people like it, I may just use it.

[One Cheap Suit]

I think I did some bitching, and then never followed up. Sorry about that.

 

The issue I've had with fonts only happen when I read Poor Man's Son on an iPad. And it has to do with font substitution for Comic Sans, apparently.

 

 

It's interesting. Here's a screenshot of this post on my ipad:

 

 

Comic Sans isn't available on an ipad, so it failed gracefully to Times, which is good.

 

And here's a screenshot of a chunk of Poor Mans Son, Chapter 14:

 

 

The ipad has substituted some whacked out script font for Comic Sans. Stupid iPad. I suspect this is an issue with the stylesheet for GA stories, and probably won't get fixed. So as far as I'm concerned, this is a non-problem.

 

Short answer: My experience is that Comic Sans is being substituted by an odd system font when viewed on the iPad. It's very specific to GA Stories and if mine is the only complaint, don't worry about it. It's not like I can't find another glowing rectangle on which to display the story

Edited May 22, 2011 by bigdave976

[Matthew k]

I like Comic Sans, it gives the story character.

[Red_A]

Fonts!

Get out Clause: This is a subject that has very strong beliefs. This is my opinion

 

Technically

 

courier is a typewriter font and was designed for typewriters, it was never designed by font designers. It is believed to be unsuitable for books or notices, or displays devices (projected photos or TV displays)

The major disadvantage is that it has the highest number of people who detested it and will not touch it, as against other fonts that people who do not like, but will tolerate.

 

Arial/Verdana Arial was designed for notices, posters, signs etc, it was not intended for books or newspapers. Verdana was allegally derived from arial to be used on Monitor screens etc. Other arial/Helvetica derived fonts are used for posters, signs, etc.

Times Roman was designed specially for the Times Newspaper, and is used for newspapers and books.

 

Comic sans MS (Micro Soft) is a nice warm hand printing font which is ideal for short passage to emphasize. Although I like it a lot it is the font that is most likely to be unavailable and replaced on non MS machines by a random font. I would recommend that you do not use it, or use it sparingly.

 

The above is based on information which is ten years old, and opinions are changing and moving away from serif to sans serif, so I would suggest that whatever your readers wants is what you do. At lest it will be correct now. In two years time???

[sat8997]

Georgia. It has character.

 

<no pun intended...well, maybe just a little one>

[Graeme]

I use Times New Roman. I think it’s easier on the eyes and most actual publications are printed in a similar font. Now, if you want to font to match the style of your story you might want to jazz it up a bit, but for reading, I think this is the easiest universally.

 

This post highlights a point that's not always obvious. As KC Grim said, most actual publications are printed in a similar font.

 

The problem is that the eye likes things different between the screen and a printed page. Times New Roman is great if you're printing out the stories to read, but is not as good for reading on a screen. Other fonts, such as Arial, Tahoma, Verdana are more appropriate to be viewed on a screen. I remember doing a course on presentations, and the instructor made it very clear that using Times New Roman for power point presentations (for example) makes it harder for someone to read what's there. Their recommendation was Arial, as the reader will be able to absorb what's written easier.

 

So, what do you want? A font that's easy to read on a printed page, or a font that's easy to read on a screen? Unfortunately, the best choices in either category do not appear to be the best choice for the other category....

[Mark Arbour]

Georgia. It has character.

 

<no pun intended...well, maybe just a little one>

 

I posted the latest chapter with Georgia, just for you. We'll see how that is.

[One Cheap Suit]

This post highlights a point that's not always obvious. As KC Grim said, most actual publications are printed in a similar font.

 

The problem is that the eye likes things different between the screen and a printed page. Times New Roman is great if you're printing out the stories to read, but is not as good for reading on a screen. Other fonts, such as Arial, Tahoma, Verdana are more appropriate to be viewed on a screen. I remember doing a course on presentations, and the instructor made it very clear that using Times New Roman for power point presentations (for example) makes it harder for someone to read what's there. Their recommendation was Arial, as the reader will be able to absorb what's written easier.

 

So, what do you want? A font that's easy to read on a printed page, or a font that's easy to read on a screen? Unfortunately, the best choices in either category do not appear to be the best choice for the other category....

 

I always heard this was because the light of a monitor is radiant rather than reflective. The tails of a serif font are harder to resolve when the light source is behind the type. So serif fonts are easier to see when reflected back to your eyes (i.e from a piece of paper) and sans-serif when radiated. This is the same principle that makes a presentation slide look beautiful on your display but washed out when shown with a projector.

I suspect this is becoming less important with the demise of the CRT display and the rise of higher resolutions LCD/LED displays.

 

/nerd

[CthulhuTheGuardian]

I think I did some bitching, and then never followed up. Sorry about that.

And here's a screenshot of a chunk of Poor Mans Son, Chapter 14:

 

 

The ipad has substituted some whacked out script font for Comic Sans. Stupid iPad. I suspect this is an issue with the stylesheet for GA stories, and probably won't get fixed. So as far as I'm concerned, this is a non-problem.

 

Short answer: My experience is that Comic Sans is being substituted by an odd system font when viewed on the iPad. It's very specific to GA Stories and if mine is the only complaint, don't worry about it. It's not like I can't find another glowing rectangle on which to display the story

 

AHH. That script font was what I was bitching about! I read all stories on my iPhone, so when I saw that font, I thought that was what he actually used... >.< Go me for not checking the computer. I shall edit my post later to show!

 

<br>Edit: Here's the picture...<br><br>

Edited May 23, 2011 by CthulhuTheGuardian

[Canuk]

any font provided it's a serif font - such as Georgia. Sans serif I find harder to read. mind you, the way it's written at the moment works for me (despite what I just said!)

 

 

 

[sat8997]

I posted the latest chapter with Georgia, just for you. We'll see how that is.

 

Well I liked it. We'll have to see if one of the iPad people ( that made me think of The Body Snatchers and their pod people) get that goofy script.

[CthulhuTheGuardian]

Well I liked it. We'll have to see if one of the iPad people ( that made me think of The Body Snatchers and their pod people) get that goofy script.

 

Georgia is fine. It works like it would on the computer...

[Andrew Q Gordon]

I'd have voted to Arial but it wasn't an option. Of the ones you offer, I think Georgia, Tahoma, Lucinda San Unicode, and Trebuchet MS were the best. This post was written in Arial so maybe that is why I like it better.

 

Courier is horrible to look at to me. Times isn't much better though that is what I used to type with.

 

I read somewhere that companies are encouraging employees to only use Times, Arial or Courier because it saves ink. Times is a smaller footprint than Arial. If you take something in Arial and then convert to Times you will see you save lines and sometimes pages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeL]

My vote would be for none of the above. Century Gothic has more white space within the letters making text easier to read. It has the additional advantage of using less ink or toner when a page is printed.

[methodwriter85]

In college, you are ONLY allowed to use Times New Roman. It's been like that in school for as long I can remember, going back to at least middle school. I wonder if there was a time that Times New Roman wasn't the standard school paper type.

[mmike1969]

.... --- .-- + .- -... --- ..- - + .-- . + ... - --- .--. + .-- --- .-. .-. -.-- .. -. --. + .- -... --- ..- - + ..-. --- -. - ... + .- -. -.. + .--- ..- ... - + --. --- + .-- .. - .... + .-- .. -. --. -.. .. -. --. ...

 

 

 

Sorry but the font I want to use can't be used here and it automatically translate it to ariel

Edited May 23, 2011 by mmike1969

[One Cheap Suit]

Georgia looks great on the ipad, it looks great in the story.

 

Thanks for fixing this

[Mark Arbour]

I'd have voted to Arial but it wasn't an option. Of the ones you offer, I think Georgia, Tahoma, Lucinda San Unicode, and Trebuchet MS were the best. This post was written in Arial so maybe that is why I like it better.

 

Courier is horrible to look at to me. Times isn't much better though that is what I used to type with.

 

I read somewhere that companies are encouraging employees to only use Times, Arial or Courier because it saves ink. Times is a smaller footprint than Arial. If you take something in Arial and then convert to Times you will see you save lines and sometimes pages.

 

 

I didn't use Arial because it was too similar to Verdana.

My vote would be for none of the above. Century Gothic has more white space within the letters making text easier to read. It has the additional advantage of using less ink or toner when a page is printed.

 

 

Century Gothic isn't an option. (It is here on the forums, but not on GA Stories.