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> and it's very readable No it's not. Computer Modern is way to thin to be considered readable. This is because it was originally designed with print in mind,

> and it's very readable No it's not. Computer Modern is way to thin to be considered readable. This is because it was originally designed with print in mind, which used to have ink bleeding, making thin lines thicker on paper.

tmoertel 2y ago
The Computer Modern font was designed to incorporate a "blackness" variable that controlled the thickness of its strokes. This provided a way to adjust the design for different printing processes and to accommodate, for example, ink swell or the lack thereof on modern printing devices. Here are some scans by Raph Levien showing the vector design vs. the offset printing in Knuth’s Digital Typography vs. laser printing: https://levien.com/type/cmr/gain.html https://levien.com/type/cmr/gain.html Presumably, the middle version is how Knuth wanted the font to appear on the page. But the bottom version is what we get when we take the digital outlines and render them on a laser printer. Fortunately for us, several people have used the adjustable-blackness feature to make blacker renditions of Computer Modern that are designed to look good when laser printed. MLModern is the one I prefer: > MLModern is a text and math font family with (La)TeX support, based on the design of Donald Knuth’s Computer Modern and the Latin Modern project. It avoids the spindliness of most other Type 1 versions of Computer Modern. For a typeset example of it in use: https://blog.moertel.com/images/public_html/blog/pix-20240601/sampling-with-sql.pdf https://blog.moertel.com/images/public_html/blog/pix-2024060...
- setopt 2y ago
  MLModern looks much better. I wish they would replace CModern with this as the default font. Does it include ports of the AMS packages with extra symbols?
Cheezmeister 2y ago
If only there were some way to adjust for that difference when viewed on a different type of medium, such as a high-DPI LED-backlit liquid crystal display. Unfortunately, the web wasn't designed that way, which is why every document that you read on a website instead of on paper is illegible. It's a shame, really. :) /s

tmoertel 2y ago

The Computer Modern font was designed to incorporate a "blackness" variable that controlled the thickness of its strokes. This provided a way to adjust the design for different printing processes and to accommodate, for example, ink swell or the lack thereof on modern printing devices. Here are some scans by Raph Levien showing the vector design vs. the offset printing in Knuth’s Digital Typography vs. laser printing: https://levien.com/type/cmr/gain.html https://levien.com/type/cmr/gain.html Presumably, the middle version is how Knuth wanted the font to appear on the page. But the bottom version is what we get when we take the digital outlines and render them on a laser printer. Fortunately for us, several people have used the adjustable-blackness feature to make blacker renditions of Computer Modern that are designed to look good when laser printed. MLModern is the one I prefer: > MLModern is a text and math font family with (La)TeX support, based on the design of Donald Knuth’s Computer Modern and the Latin Modern project. It avoids the spindliness of most other Type 1 versions of Computer Modern. For a typeset example of it in use: https://blog.moertel.com/images/public_html/blog/pix-20240601/sampling-with-sql.pdf https://blog.moertel.com/images/public_html/blog/pix-2024060...

setopt 2y ago
MLModern looks much better. I wish they would replace CModern with this as the default font. Does it include ports of the AMS packages with extra symbols?

Cheezmeister 2y ago

If only there were some way to adjust for that difference when viewed on a different type of medium, such as a high-DPI LED-backlit liquid crystal display. Unfortunately, the web wasn't designed that way, which is why every document that you read on a website instead of on paper is illegible. It's a shame, really. :) /s