RE: serif & sans serif fonts

["Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>]

Hey Mel,

Well a hundred people haven't answered, so I'll offer what I have.

1.  The common, or at least really old, answer here is that serif fonts
offer easier readability in printed documents because the eye of the reader
will follow the serifs to the next letters.  Sales and marketing documents
tend to have sans-serif fonts because those fonts are prettier.  Financial
and legalish documents tend to use serifs anyway, probably because serifs
look more "professional."  Some companies have style rules that require the
use of certain fonts.

2.  Online documentation, such as web pages tend to vary, but sans-serif
fonts tend to be prefered because serifs can make the text look blurry.  If
your pdf is built primarily to be viewed online then maybe sans-serif is an
acceptable choice, but pdfs are usually designed to be printable documents,
so they should follow the same rules as your printed documents.

Lauren
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com 
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On 
> Behalf Of Mary Elaine Lora
> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 6:31 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: serif & sans serif fonts
> 
> Do you use serif or sans-serif fonts for (1) printed 
> documentation and (2)
> online documentation (i.e., PDF files)?  Can you give me links to
> authoritative articles on the readability of serif vs 
> sans-serif?  A Google
> search turned up thousands of sites with conflicting 
> opinions/research. Whom
> do you feel is the real authority on this issue?
>  
> thanks,
> mel
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