4 ms·

is it actually objective qualities of the font that are giving people headaches, or is it just because it looks different from what the user expects, and twitte

is it actually objective qualities of the font that are giving people headaches, or is it just because it looks different from what the user expects, and twitter users are used to looking at twitter many times a day, so it throws their brain for a loop?

RNCTX 5y ago
Or that the standard response of a large subset of the loudest Twitter users is everything they don't like is "literal violence."
marcinzm 5y ago
I don't use twitter that much. I find the font uncomfortable to look at on my windows desktop but not my macbook. Especially the left hand navigation bar. so, for me, it's not about the change but about the font in specific rendering environments.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  Windows' font rendering just plain sucks compared to macOS, to a point I'm actually getting headaches. I know, subjective anecdata and all of that, but I haven't been able to pinpoint why exactly...
nulbyte 5y ago
I find handles and other bolded text are objectively difficult to read. Take a look at a bolded 'e' for a prime example; there is not enough whitespace, and the horizontal line is too thin, making it all but disappear in the middle of the bold curve.
twic 5y ago
They should count themselves lucky. Just headaches and not seizures? https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/its-catching/202007/popular-website-is-reportedly-making-people-sick https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/its-catching/202007/...
mbrubeck 5y ago
It seems to have broken hinting on some platforms. Not all users are seeing the same rendering. Here’s what the broken rendering looks like for some: https://twitter.com/_Soilleir_/status/1425542928970170376 https://twitter.com/_Soilleir_/status/1425542928970170376 Differently broken hinting on some versions of Android: https://twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1425545266757779463 https://twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1425545266757779463
- Sunspark 5y ago
  Wow, that second link is really bad. I would find it enraging.
msbarnett 5y ago
While it's hard to prove that this (or anything) directly causes headaches, Chirp has an unusually small x-height (stem width to x-height ratios would normally be around 1:6 for a legible font – Chirp's ratio is 1:4, very small) and an extreme x-height to body height ratio (the capitals are MUCH taller than the non-capitals). The net effect is that even at the same "font size" you have to squint more to read anything, because non-capital text is very very small and tight relative to the rather large capitals.
Alex3917 5y ago
> is it actually objective qualities of the font that are giving people headaches The typeface pulls your left and right eyes toward each other, making you look at it cross eyed. It's incredibly nauseating, like the feeling you have right after stepping off a poorly-designed amusement park ride.

RNCTX 5y ago

Or that the standard response of a large subset of the loudest Twitter users is everything they don't like is "literal violence."

marcinzm 5y ago

I don't use twitter that much. I find the font uncomfortable to look at on my windows desktop but not my macbook. Especially the left hand navigation bar. so, for me, it's not about the change but about the font in specific rendering environments.

mschuster91 5y ago
Windows' font rendering just plain sucks compared to macOS, to a point I'm actually getting headaches. I know, subjective anecdata and all of that, but I haven't been able to pinpoint why exactly...

nulbyte 5y ago

I find handles and other bolded text are objectively difficult to read. Take a look at a bolded 'e' for a prime example; there is not enough whitespace, and the horizontal line is too thin, making it all but disappear in the middle of the bold curve.

twic 5y ago

They should count themselves lucky. Just headaches and not seizures? https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/its-catching/202007/popular-website-is-reportedly-making-people-sick https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/its-catching/202007/...

mbrubeck 5y ago

It seems to have broken hinting on some platforms. Not all users are seeing the same rendering. Here’s what the broken rendering looks like for some: https://twitter.com/_Soilleir_/status/1425542928970170376 https://twitter.com/_Soilleir_/status/1425542928970170376 Differently broken hinting on some versions of Android: https://twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1425545266757779463 https://twitter.com/mcclure111/status/1425545266757779463

Sunspark 5y ago
Wow, that second link is really bad. I would find it enraging.

msbarnett 5y ago

While it's hard to prove that this (or anything) directly causes headaches, Chirp has an unusually small x-height (stem width to x-height ratios would normally be around 1:6 for a legible font – Chirp's ratio is 1:4, very small) and an extreme x-height to body height ratio (the capitals are MUCH taller than the non-capitals). The net effect is that even at the same "font size" you have to squint more to read anything, because non-capital text is very very small and tight relative to the rather large capitals.

Alex3917 5y ago

> is it actually objective qualities of the font that are giving people headaches The typeface pulls your left and right eyes toward each other, making you look at it cross eyed. It's incredibly nauseating, like the feeling you have right after stepping off a poorly-designed amusement park ride.