4 ms·
Serifs improve legibility of small prints. With modern HiDPI screens, there is no reason not to use serif fonts across all media.
by ilumanty 3y ago
Serifs improve legibility of small prints. With modern HiDPI screens, there is no reason not to use serif fonts across all media.
- tcldr 3y agoSure, a restricted subset of serifs and typically when you’re reading a run of text i.e body copy. But the typical neoclassical serifs used in high fashion (think the Vogue logo) with their hairline serifs will look awful scaled to the sizes needed on mobile – regardless of screen definition.
- dannyw 3y agoYou generally have to cater to the lowest common denominator, like that $150 prepaid Android phone with a non-HiDPI screen. Or someone on a 1336x720 Chromebook.
- a1o 3y agoI think we all used Times New Roman for writing in 800x600 desktop CRTs with 15" curved displays and could read just fine.
- marginalia_nu 3y ago15" CRTs were physically significantly larger than anything mobile today.
- dylan604 3y agoAnd they had pixels the size of fingernails. Being able to see the pixels was not something that helped in the reading of anything
- bloopernova 3y agoThank you for putting into words something that's I've been wondering about. Offtopic: I switched from MPlus Code font to Iosevka just this week for my terminal, VSCode, and Emacs use. Partly due to finding Iosevka more pleasing, its support for ligatures, and liking its italics. Looking at it now, MPlus is a little simpler while Iosevka has a bit more... Personality? MPlus: https://www.programmingfonts.org/#mplus https://www.programmingfonts.org/#mplus Iosevka: https://www.programmingfonts.org/#iosevka https://www.programmingfonts.org/#iosevka Iosevka has a few serif-like features that distinguish it from MPlus, and on the hidpi screens I use, it's easier on my aging eyesight.
- Zekio 3y agoSerif fonts read terribly on displays of basically any size and dpi, I don't even use them when reading books on e-ink displays
- checkyoursudo 3y agoSerif fonts read fine on any screen with at least a pixel density of Apple's Retina displays. Subjective preferences are another matter, of course. I prefer serifs even on worse displays, because my brain decodes them better. And I will basically refuse to read sans serif in print, or rather, my brain refuses to comply anyway.
- Shorel 3y agoThat's your (arguably wrong) opinion. Some of the most beautiful and enjoyable fonts I have used in my 300-dpi e-book reader have serifs. - Ancizar - Bookerly - Imperial (the one used by NYTimes) - Palatino
- atoav 3y agoBut your corp very likely wants to look young and fresh and not like a very serious, but ultimately boring lawyer agency. Serif fonts are still existant, with newspapers, lawyers, notaries and aimilar professions. Most modern corporations just don't want to go that direction, because this isn't how they want to be perceived.
- lagt_t 3y agoThe very few actual studies revealed there is no difference in legibility between typefaces that differ only in the presence or absence of serifs.