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Subject:Re: Serif vs. Sans Serif From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Jun 2001 11:05:04 -0700
Brigitte Johnston wrote:
> What
> are some of your thoughts on serif vs. sans serif for print? How do you
> think I could best persuade "them" to make the change? Any and all comments
> most appreciated! (FYI - I'm on digest.)
Which serif? Which sans serif? Although many people repeat the idea that
serif fonts are more easy to read on paper than san serif fonts, at
least for North American audiences, I can immediately think of several
serif fonts that are exceptions to this rule. With another minute's
thought, I could probably think of a dozen. And, then, of course,
there's all the other considerations of layout that affect readability
or legibility. For these reasons, any changes you suggest should be very
concrete ones: using one font as opposed to another, instead of these
broad categories.
You're on safer ground advocating ragged right. There's nothing wrong
with full-justification in itself, but ragged right often looks better
without manual adjustments; most common software does a poor job of full
justification. However, even here there's exceptions, such as narrow
columns, in which you might want to choose full justification.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"Fool's luck can only take you so far ... after that you have to get out
and walk."
=Tom Holt, "Olympiad"
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