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Subject:Re: Font Peeves From:Tracy Boyington <tracy_boyington -at- OKVOTECH -dot- ORG> Date:Mon, 26 Jan 1998 08:36:20 -0600
> Re fonts looking "old and dated": perhaps I'm wrong, but I doubt that a
> lot of those reading my manuals would know an Arial from a Times from a
> Garamond etc. I don't this it really matters (apart from personal
> preference) as long as the font selected is READABLE by the end user.
No one (except a few TWs :-) say "oh, look, it's done in Arial" when
they open your manual, but the font *will* have an effect on the reader.
Even fonts that are equally readable have different "personalities."
Picture a font that feels old and solid, even stodgy (New Century
Schoolbook comes to mind, although it may be so "retro" now that it's
considered hip). It might be appropriate for a stock prospectus, but if
you opened the manual for your newest computer gadget and it was printed
in New Century Schoolbook would you be tempted to check the copyright
date? Mightn't you wonder, even for a split second, if this company
really was on the cutting edge of computer technology? I know I would.
Tracy
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Tracy Boyington tracy_boyington -at- okvotech -dot- org
Oklahoma Department of Vocational and Technical Education
Stillwater, OK, USA http://www.okvotech.org/cimc/home.htm
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