What fonts do you prefer?

[grrl]

I'd like to know what fonts you primarily use for printed documents. I make many handouts for my students, but would like to make them a little more interesting by varying the font instead of just bolding, italicizing and/or changing the point.

I usually use Arial/Helvetica and am getting bored with it. I find Courier and Bookman a bit dull (too much like a typewriter) and Times New Roman is somewhat difficult to read. I like Verdana as well, but would like to hear some other's opinions.

 

[StevenYoo]

i really like Trebuchet and Tempus Sans ITC

Impact is interesting to use for titles and headlines, not for actual text.

Comic has been overused to high hell, so stay away from that one.

Hettenschweiler (sp?) is also an interesting one.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: grrl
I'd like to know what fonts you primarily use for printed documents. I make many handouts for my students, but would like to make them a little more interesting by varying the font instead of just bolding, italicizing and/or changing the point.

I usually use Arial/Helvetica and am getting bored with it. I find Courier and Bookman a bit dull (too much like a typewriter) and Times New Roman is somewhat difficult to read. I like Verdana as well, but would like to hear some other's opinions.

I used to look around a lot for fonts I like. Used to use Times New Roman a lot but nowadays I stick with Arial. There are other very readable fonts but they all look a whole lot like Arial. I haven't seen another font that looks more readable to me and that's what counts AFAIC. My DTP teacher used to say not to get too fancy - don't use too many fonts. That's a common error in DTP.

 

[manly]

For letters, I like Adobe Garamond (MS Garamond is but a cheap knock-off but what's new?).

In general, sans serif fonts (Helvetica, Arial, etc.) are more readable than serif fonts (Times, Garamond, ...) so that's why you have a preference. But serif fonts work just fine for lengthy documents, letters, newspapers, publications, that sort of thing.

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: grrl
and Times New Roman is somewhat difficult to read.

i am just curious but hth can Times New Roman be difficult to read? I mean i could understand if you needed very strong eye glass' prescripttion. but thats just very odd to me:disgust: ....how more clear can a font get than Times New Roman

I personally prefer Tempus Sans ITC & Arial

 

[singh]

MS Sans Serif

 

[AndyHui]

I'm a big fan of Tahoma. I really like it for smaller text, and it looks familiar, since all the Win2K/WinXP dialogues use this font as default.

 

[Whitecloak]

verdana.

 

[grrl]

Originally quoted by here4amission:

i am just curious but hth can Times New Roman be difficult to read? I mean i could understand if you needed very strong eye glass' prescripttion. but thats just very odd to me ....how more clear can a font get than Times New Roman

Maybe I should have written "less comfortable to read." As Manly noted, it has to do with the serif, I don't like those styles, they aren't 'clear' enough for me. To me the letters in TNR seem a little closer together than with Arial and other fonts.

 

[MainFramed]

oh ok grrl...i see what your saying....i just thought thats very odd that someone could not read TNR well, but what your saying makes sense. sorry..no hard feelings

-mission

 

[dukdukgoos]

verdana

 

[Lars]

Verdana

 

[grrl]

No hard feelings here4amission, it was my poor word choice.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Verdana

 

[grrl]

It looks like Verdana is the favorite. Any other preferences?

 

[gsaldivar]

I use Verdana for informal documents ...

but I've found Palatino Linotype to be crisp, legible and formal for important documents. It works very well with ClearType and the italic set is excellent. I've been using this font for all my term papers and reports for the last few years with good results.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
I'm a big fan of Tahoma. I really like it for smaller text, and it looks familiar, since all the Win2K/WinXP dialogues use this font as default.

Yes, I like Tahoma too and I discovered it before I realized I liked Arial. You have to look pretty hard to see the difference between the two.

 

[Muse]

How about screen fonts? What's easiest on the eyes? This may seem a bit OT, but do you prefer an LCD monitor for reading text or a CRT? And does length of use have a bearing? What font and screen type would you like to be looking at if you had to read a lot of text for hours? I find myself printing things out sometimes because it seems like a strain to have to read a long time on screen. I've been looking for ways to combat this for years and am interested in other people's thoughts on this.

I like the look of Tahoma and Verdana looking at it from Control Panel/Fonts but on my screen, Arial comes out sharper. "W" in Tahoma and Verdana isn't sharp and black like Arial. I'm viewing a high quality 17" CRT at 1024 x 768 and 14 point.