Which font to use

[Jessi]

 

http://www.instantshift.com/2012/04/12/study-of-font-styles-and-best-uses-for-each/

 

I'm going to warn you now....

 

Clicking that link is going to give you way more information and detailed analytical tidbits than you probably ever wanted to know.

 

But it is really, really good to at least skim and pick up on the best font families to use for your sites.

[Grumpy]

No doubt I'd use Times New Roman for anything. I don't use alternative fonts for anything on my forums or websites, in actual fact I find them massively annoying and I just hate seeing others use different fonts. There's no need for it when by default the font used is readable and very easy to read at that.

[ljepilo]

Isn't it obvious , Times New Roman is the best font that you can use. I always use it ,and its best possible choice !

[1ufakin]

Times New Roman just seems to fit for everything, its just the way it looks. Only time i would ever use any other font is when i am decorating and just for the title i would put like a really stylish one but everything else is Times New Roman.

[jadenmabon]

Times New Roman just seems to fit for everything, its just the way it looks. Only time i would ever use any other font is when i am decorating and just for the title i would put like a really stylish one but everything else is Times New Roman.

 

I also prefer Times New Roman for anything that needs a serious note and basically for all kinds of web text. It gives the site a more professional look and feel which is important for most people that asks us to develop sites for them. I only look or use at other fonts when I am doing my blog or if someone asks me to create one for them.

[Garrett Erb]

Times New Roman FTW! Anything other than Helvetica (personally pet peeve)

[Jessi]

Times New Roman FTW! Anything other than Helvetica (personally pet peeve)

 

I usually see Comic Sans as the one that so many people despise. Do you think that Helvetica is even worse than that?

[JHTech100]

I guess I am a rebel. I have always sworn by Arial for the most part whenever I design a website. Times New Roman looks a little too newspaper-y to me.

[ljepilo]

I guess I am a rebel. I have always sworn by Arial for the most part whenever I design a website. Times New Roman looks a little too newspaper-y to me.

No it doesn't looks "newspaper-y" or whatever you wanna call it . Times New Roman is much better font than any other,its no wonder why everyone uses it. I don't like Arial at all , really...

[Jessi]

No it doesn't looks "newspaper-y" or whatever you wanna call it

 

Well considering a lot of newspapers do actually use Times New Roman or a similar serif, I'm pretty sure he was being quite literal there. It -is- newspapery because that's where it's often used.

[SpikeTheLobster]

That was really interesting. I love all the font stuff and frequently have trouble figuring out which to use.

 

I'm also at odds with most of the above respondents. I think TNR is an absolutely awful font for most non-printing purposes. In the article example, where TNR and Arial are shown next to each other, my eyes flew through the Arial text but read the TNR much slower because it's finicky and pedantic. Looks wonderful on paper, looks awful on screen. Personally, I always use Calibri for web stuff - clean, simple, easy to read, no nonsense.

 

I usually see Comic Sans as the one that so many people despise. Do you think that Helvetica is even worse than that?

 

I have seen entire organisations (usually academic ones) roll out petitions against the use of Comic Sans. It's considered one of the worst possible choices because it's popular with "the unwashed masses" (i.e. people who don't know about fonts or something... I dunno, I'm just saying what I see). Personally, I don't mind it, though it's terribly overused.

 

I guess I am a rebel. I have always sworn by Arial for the most part whenever I design a website. Times New Roman looks a little too newspaper-y to me.

 

Agreed, though I'm not particularly an Arial fan - it's a bit too "fat" for my liking, most of the time. See above.

[rcturbos]

Times News Roman is the best font if you ask me because it's simple, professional, and easy to read. You can use it on almost anything and it will still look good.. But I have to admit that Sans looks way decent 2.

[Jessi]

http://wordsbrand.com/t-shirts/designer-tshirt-t-shirts/

 

It rather states the obvious, but it still made me giggle a little.

[DarkGizmo]

I LOATHE helvetica. I'd use TNR or Arial before anything else. Helvetica is the LAST font in the world i'd use when designing.

[Marc]

I am certainly not reading that LOL ... No other reason than my cousin is a graphic designer that specialises in banners both printed and on screen, and decided one day to give me an incite into how fonts should be used. After that I never want to know another thing about a font again LMAO

[Rayru18]

I used to be on the TNR train, mostly because professors/teachers would demand the use of it for reports and such, but for a couple of years now I've been using Arial or Calibri for web and programs; more Calibri than Arial, don't know why honestly.

 

About the Comic Sans hate, I've seen a ton of people bash others for using this font, specially around campus, also happens with the Papyrus font, those two seem to be hated wherever I go. I do agree that they are a bit overused.

 

About the site, it's actually a really nice find, thank for the share Jessi .

[dexterlablab1]

As much as I'd like to get all fancy and idealistic about it, I stick with Times New Roman.

 

Its the familiarity of it and the fact that since just about everyone is used to seeing it, virtually no one has any problems reading it.

[Quiver]

I would always recommend the Verdana or the Tahoma font for websites.

Verdana would be my first choice as it's very legible and looks very neat.

However, it can be quite a large font in comparison to many others.

So if you're pushed for space then Tahoma would be a good choice.

When I say Verdana can be "large" it's because of spacing between letters.

Also, the letters themselves are quite wide in comparison to many other fonts.

However, that's what makes Verdana so neat and legible. It's well spaced out.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Quiver

[simplysidy]

Personally, my favorite is still Arial and Tahoma. Though there are many others which I like and if allowed, I do use them using the cuFon or the new Font CSS.

[simplysidy]

I would always recommend the Verdana or the Tahoma font for websites.

Verdana would be my first choice as it's very legible and looks very neat.

However, it can be quite a large font in comparison to many others.

So if you're pushed for space then Tahoma would be a good choice.

When I say Verdana can be "large" it's because of spacing between letters.

Also, the letters themselves are quite wide in comparison to many other fonts.

However, that's what makes Verdana so neat and legible. It's well spaced out.

Of course, the two really look great even when the font size is smaller to say 6px.

[bigbigfan]

I'm a fan of Verdana though I use Times New Roman quite a bit. Adsense tries to give you arial by default, with small text, but I always switch that over to Verdana and large text and get good results in the process.

 

Mix it up from time to time, people like different things in life. Can you imagine eating spaghetti with flat noodles the rest of your life just because it was the favorite way back when?

[dagscot]

Personally, I use Helvetica and Comic sans on all of my designed websites. Just kidding. Actually, I mostly use Times New Roman, it's what you'll find used in most popular websites. After that, as an alternative, I use Arial narrow.

Edited January 11, 2013 by dagscot

[DarkGizmo]

Of course, the two really look great even when the font size is smaller to say 6px.

Ah that's a great point. I never thought of that. I should give those two a try on my next project.

[Sunnyshine]

I actually disagree with the myriad of people clamoring about Times New Roman.  I think it's very hard to read on a screen - the letters are thin and serifed, which makes it hard to parse in your mind.  I think that sans-serif fonts (Helvetica, Arial, Calibri) or wider fonts (Georgia, Cambria) are far better choices than Times New Roman will ever be.  Helvetica is a nice font, despite what some people apparently say about it as well - it has few differences from Arial, and both are perfectly good fonts.  Personally, I prefer Georgia for written text on paper, and Calibri for typed text on a screen.