Funny Font Annecdote and Lesson

I inherited a website from my boss, who has Palantino on her computer.

I don't have Palantino on my computer at work, or my computer at home.
My default font is Comic Sans, so when I started working on the site, I
saw the headings appeared Comic Sans, and that is how I wrote the
headings in the new stylesheet {font-family: "Comic Sans", arial,
helvetica, sans-serif}.

When I presented this to my boss, she screamed "But you KNOW all of our
headings are in Palantino!" I said, I didn't know that, because all I
ever saw was my default font. I explained that since I didn't have that
font, and since there was no fallback font, I saw my default.

Of course, now it's {font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New
Roman", Times, serif;}. I still only see Times New Roman, and
personally, I liked it better with Comic Sans.

So, the lesson here is to ALWAYS include a fallback and the appropriate
generic font.

--
Adrienne Boswell at Home
Arbpen Web Site Design Services
http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
Please respond to the group so others can share

Adrienne Boswell wrote:

I inherited a website from my boss, who has Palantino on her computer.

I don't have Palantino on my computer at work, or my computer at home.
My default font is Comic Sans, so when I started working on the site, I
saw the headings appeared Comic Sans, and that is how I wrote the
headings in the new stylesheet {font-family: "Comic Sans", arial,
helvetica, sans-serif}.

When I presented this to my boss, she screamed "But you KNOW all of our
headings are in Palantino!" I said, I didn't know that, because all I
ever saw was my default font. I explained that since I didn't have that
font, and since there was no fallback font, I saw my default.

Of course, now it's {font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New
Roman", Times, serif;}. I still only see Times New Roman, and
personally, I liked it better with Comic Sans.

So, the lesson here is to ALWAYS include a fallback and the appropriate
generic font.

I learned a similar lesson years ago when I was editing a newsletter and
someone submitted an ad as a Word document with a collection of embedded
text boxes used for positioning. I thought the choice of fonts and the
layout were really weird but I dutifully converted the document to PDF
format and from there into a graphics file that I cropped and included
in the newsletter, before realizing that the funny fonts and layout
weren't intentional. The advertiser had been expressing his creativity
by tinkering with fancy fonts and didn't realize that (a) not everyone
has them and (b) they don't convey with the Word document.

From that point on whenever I'd receive copy in Word format I'd convert
it to PDF and send it back with the question, "Is this OK?" I also
learned to check PDFs submitted to me to make sure the fonts were embedded.

Scripsit Adrienne Boswell:

I inherited a website from my boss, who has Palantino on her computer.

I bet you mean "Palatino Linotype" (which is what you use later in your
message). Most of the readers here are humans, so it's not a big issue,
but those stupid computers don't really get these things. Actually, it
can be worse: some programs interpret misspelled font names according to
what they think the web page author meant, some don't.

My default font is Comic Sans,

Good for you for some investigation purposes, since you'll immediately
see that some page is not setting font family or, in rare cases, setting
it to Comic Sans, for some odd reason. It's not that good for actual
browsing, especially if you are oriented towards actually reading texts
on web pages.

Of course, now it's {font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New
Roman", Times, serif;}. I still only see Times New Roman, and
personally, I liked it better with Comic Sans.

So you are suggesting that browsers primarily display your page using
Palatino Linotype but you haven't actually checked how they look like
when presented that way?

Including Times after Times New Roman sounds pointless. Hands up, has
someone ever seen a system _with_ Times but _without_ Times New Roman? A
system without either of them is imaginable, so the serif fallback makes
sense, _assuming_ that you have some reasonable reason for preferring a
serif font even against the user's choice of basic font.

Palatino Linotype is not very close to Times New Roman. Book Antiqua
would be a closer substitute, I think, and so would Georgia, if you
accept its lowercase ("old-style") digits. Times New Roman is more
condensed and looks smaller. I think the odds are that a system's
default serif font is _either_ Times New Roman _or_ something more
similar to Palatino Linotype than TNR is.

So I'd say that { font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; } is enough.

So, the lesson here is to ALWAYS include a fallback and the
appropriate generic font.

Is it? How many users actually select some _strange_ font as their
browser's default font? How many of them actually _want_ to see text in
that font when pages don't specify their own font?

--
Jukka K. Korpela ("Yucca")
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

Jukka K. Korpela wrote:

Scripsit Adrienne Boswell:

I inherited a website from my boss, who has Palantino on her computer.

snip

So you are suggesting that browsers primarily display your page using
Palatino Linotype but you haven't actually checked how they look like
when presented that way?

I think we all get a bit jaded, particularly when working with someone
else's design! This hasn't happened to you?

Including Times after Times New Roman sounds pointless. Hands up, has
someone ever seen a system _with_ Times but _without_ Times New Roman? A
system without either of them is imaginable, so the serif fallback makes
sense, _assuming_ that you have some reasonable reason for preferring a
serif font even against the user's choice of basic font.

Palatino Linotype is not very close to Times New Roman. Book Antiqua
would be a closer substitute, I think, and so would Georgia, if you
accept its lowercase ("old-style") digits. Times New Roman is more
condensed and looks smaller. I think the odds are that a system's
default serif font is _either_ Times New Roman _or_ something more
similar to Palatino Linotype than TNR is.

I'm getting a little tired of using Verdana and Times. What's your
take on expanding the font list to something like shown here:

<URL: http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html />

Oh, note that there is not ordinarily a Palatino Linotype on the Mac
but Palatino.

Jeff

So I'd say that { font-family: "Palatino Linotype", serif; } is enough.

So, the lesson here is to ALWAYS include a fallback and the
appropriate generic font.

Is it? How many users actually select some _strange_ font as their
browser's default font? How many of them actually _want_ to see text in
that font when pages don't specify their own font?

Adrienne Boswell wrote:

My default font is Comic Sans

I don't think you should have admitted this, at least not in this group.


--
Berg

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:11:51 GMT
Adrienne Boswell scribed:

I inherited a website from my boss, who has Palantino on her computer.

I don't have Palantino on my computer at work, or my computer at home.
My default font is Comic Sans, so when I started working on the site, I
saw the headings appeared Comic Sans, and that is how I wrote the
headings in the new stylesheet {font-family: "Comic Sans", arial,
helvetica, sans-serif}.

When I presented this to my boss, she screamed "But you KNOW all of our
headings are in Palantino!"

Ah yes, now I see your problem. Well, that's what you get when you put
females in positions of authority. I'd quit and go work for a man who will
probably allow you to screw up a bit if you flirt in just the right manner.

I said, I didn't know that, because all I
ever saw was my default font. I explained that since I didn't have that
font, and since there was no fallback font, I saw my default.

Of course, now it's {font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New
Roman", Times, serif;}. I still only see Times New Roman, and
personally, I liked it better with Comic Sans.

So, the lesson here is to ALWAYS include a fallback and the appropriate
generic font.

<yawn> So what else is new?

--
Neredbojias
Riches are their own reward.

In article <U1tgj.277534$CX7.268833 (AT) reader1 (DOT) news.saunalahti.fi>,
"Jukka K. Korpela" <jkorpela (AT) cs (DOT) tut.fi> wrote:

Most of the readers here are humans, so
....

I saw this. Nothing escapes my antennae.

--
dorayme

In article <Xns9A1E7FAEFBE95nanopandaneredbojias (AT) 85 (DOT) 214.90.236>,
Neredbojias <monstersquasher (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

Well bust mah britches and call me cheeky, on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:11:51 GMT
Adrienne Boswell scribed:

I inherited a website ...


Ah yes, now I see your problem. Well, that's what you get when you put
females in positions of authority. I'd quit and go work for a man who will
probably allow you to screw up a bit if you flirt in just the right manner.

Boji, is there a lake near you?


So, the lesson here is to ALWAYS include a fallback and the appropriate
generic font.

yawn> So what else is new?

Boji, did I ask you before: Is there a lake near you? Maybe I
forgot to say, why don't you go and jump into it.

--
dorayme

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed Bergamot <bergamot (AT) visi (DOT) com> writing
in news:5ufbkbF1ha7ogU1 (AT) mid (DOT) individual.net:

Adrienne Boswell wrote:

My default font is Comic Sans

I don't think you should have admitted this, at least not in this group.

Actually, it's a nice font for browsing. IIRC, it was someone here who
suggested it many, many moons ago.

--
Adrienne Boswell at Home
Arbpen Web Site Design Services
http://www.cavalcade-of-coding.info
Please respond to the group so others can share

On 2008-01-07 18:10:33 +0100, "Jukka K. Korpela" <jkorpela (AT) cs (DOT) tut.fi> said:

[ ... ]

Including Times after Times New Roman sounds pointless. Hands up, has
someone ever seen a system _with_ Times but _without_ Times New Roman?
...

Many millions of people could raise their hands if they saw your
question. Anyone who used the MacOS before System 7 will have worked on
a system with Times but without Times New Roman.


--
athel