Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!cairo!tut From: tut%cairo@Sun.COM (Bill "Bill" Tuthill) Newsgroups: comp.fonts Subject: Re: font flames (was Helvetica/Univers) Message-ID: <53463@sun.uucp> Date: 17 May 88 02:03:39 GMT References: <554@iraun1.ira.uka.de> Sender: news@sun.uucp Lines: 36 It's important to recognize that this Helvetica .vs. Univers debate is nearly pointless, because the two fonts are nearly identical. Most folks couldn't even tell them apart. The telltale traits are that Helvetica has a slashed Q and hooked G, while Univers has a tailed Q and smooth G. (Many pieces of text don't even contain a capital Q.) The main reasons I dislike Helvetica are that the f r and t are too narrow, and the y has a curved descender, making it indistinguishable from j on first sight. The f r and t in Univers are wider, and y has a straight descender. Sorry, Karl Kleine, but I fail to see the appeal of Gill Sans. Both p and q have flat tops, which makes them hard to recognize. Its g is serif- style, which clashes with the straight look of other miniscules. I agree that Optima is one of the world's greatest fonts. It looks swank (at 10 point and above) as a header font for Palatino. Although Optima and Palatino weren't explicitly designed to go together, they make a cute couple-- much better than Times and Helvetica, often seen together like two people on an uncomfortable blind date. Brooks' @i{Mythical Man Month} is an example of a book set with Optima headers and Palatino body. So far nobody has mentioned Bembo. It is one of my favorite fonts below 10 point. Many Penguin paperbacks are set in Bembo. For high legibility, compactness, and a font that's easy on the eye, Bembo can't be beat. Too bad, laser-lovers, it doesn't look good at 300 dpi. In my view, neither Bembo nor Garamond looks good at high point sizes. Take a look at @i{Sierra} magazine (the official propaganda publication of the Sierra Club) for an example of Bembo horrendously misused at too large a size. Then take a look at Apple's LazyWriter documentation for an example of the same horrendous misuse of Garamond. I agree Garamond is a great serif font. Again, nobody has mentioned Janson, another great serif font. Many gifted designers say Janson is their favorite font. Garamond is perhaps the most popular serif font in France, while Janson is perhaps the most popular serif font in West Germany. (Don't they use Cyrilic in East Germany?)