5 ms·

The best web and mobile fonts of 2012

46 points by treskot 14y ago

overshard 14y ago
I always find these best of lists nice, I never think they are actually the "best of" but I do end up finding one or two gems I add to my box of whatever it's the "best of" of. I guess it's a small thing I just don't like the titling of "best" articles.
- treskot 14y ago
  'Best of articles' do work always! For the blogger/ editor and the reader. I agree with your point I hate the title convention too, cant blame the editors too what can they possibly change it to?
  - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
    ‘Random free fonts we ran into while browsing the web’
    - treskot 14y ago
      That's a good one! I would click on that.
KMBredt 14y ago
Hint: Click the font-name above the pictures to get to the source. They should make that easier to discover.
- treskot 14y ago
  It did take me a few seconds to figure it out for the first time.
youngtaff 14y ago
The 'best' mobile font is the one already on the visitors device so they don't have to wait for another to download...
- treskot 14y ago
  Agree on that point. But wouldn't you find that boring if all the websites and apps had a single font?
  - greyboy 14y ago
    Not necessarily. It's not uncommon (for myself) to disable styles to make the page load faster, or respond faster on my device.
    - treskot 14y ago
      Never thought of that. Should try it myself. Did you still like the UI after disabling styles? Won't that look a bit awkward?
Samuel_Michon 14y ago
Wow, with the exception of Adobe’s Source Code, those fonts are pretty dreadful. I’d say they’re worth exactly the price their creators are asking for it. For lists of good new webfonts, try MyFonts’ monthly ‘Rising Stars’ newsletter: http://webfonts.info/webfonts-know-how/november-rising-stars-webfonts http://webfonts.info/webfonts-know-how/november-rising-stars... Also, Typographica makes an superb list every January: http://typographica.org/features/our-favorite-typefaces-of-2011/ http://typographica.org/features/our-favorite-typefaces-of-2... And for some inspiration, you can always check the most popular fonts at TypeKit: https://typekit.com/lists/favorite-fonts https://typekit.com/lists/favorite-fonts
- treskot 14y ago
  The Typographica link has a great collection too! One more worthy mention would be Behance - http://www.behance.net/search?search=font http://www.behance.net/search?search=font
cschmidt 14y ago
I guess that might be some of the best free fonts, but even then I don't really like them. Most people using web fonts would have a Typekit account. I'd take most of the fonts on Typekit over this list. However, I've found that the WebType service actually has the best text fonts for small sizes. Headlines are nice, but what really matters is your <p> text. Their RE (Readability) series is excellent for small text. http://www.webtype.com/catalog/?wssmall=829 http://www.webtype.com/catalog/?wssmall=829 I'm personally using Benton Modern RE and Benton Modern Sans RE for smaller sizes, and Benton Modern Display for <h1> headlines.
ommunist 14y ago
These are so Latin-1 centric fonts, I doubt they are useful for the rest of the world.
- lucian1900 14y ago
  Even for European languages most fonts stuck. Text looks mostly fine, but any accented chars have a different font ...

46 points by treskot 14y ago

I always find these best of lists nice, I never think they are actually the "best of" but I do end up finding one or two gems I add to my box of whatever it's the "best of" of. I guess it's a small thing I just don't like the titling of "best" articles.

treskot 14y ago
'Best of articles' do work always! For the blogger/ editor and the reader. I agree with your point I hate the title convention too, cant blame the editors too what can they possibly change it to?
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  ‘Random free fonts we ran into while browsing the web’
  - treskot 14y ago
    That's a good one! I would click on that.

KMBredt 14y ago

Hint: Click the font-name above the pictures to get to the source. They should make that easier to discover.

treskot 14y ago
It did take me a few seconds to figure it out for the first time.

youngtaff 14y ago

The 'best' mobile font is the one already on the visitors device so they don't have to wait for another to download...

treskot 14y ago
Agree on that point. But wouldn't you find that boring if all the websites and apps had a single font?
- greyboy 14y ago
  Not necessarily. It's not uncommon (for myself) to disable styles to make the page load faster, or respond faster on my device.
  - treskot 14y ago
    Never thought of that. Should try it myself. Did you still like the UI after disabling styles? Won't that look a bit awkward?

Samuel_Michon 14y ago

Wow, with the exception of Adobe’s Source Code, those fonts are pretty dreadful. I’d say they’re worth exactly the price their creators are asking for it. For lists of good new webfonts, try MyFonts’ monthly ‘Rising Stars’ newsletter: http://webfonts.info/webfonts-know-how/november-rising-stars-webfonts http://webfonts.info/webfonts-know-how/november-rising-stars... Also, Typographica makes an superb list every January: http://typographica.org/features/our-favorite-typefaces-of-2011/ http://typographica.org/features/our-favorite-typefaces-of-2... And for some inspiration, you can always check the most popular fonts at TypeKit: https://typekit.com/lists/favorite-fonts https://typekit.com/lists/favorite-fonts

treskot 14y ago
The Typographica link has a great collection too! One more worthy mention would be Behance - http://www.behance.net/search?search=font http://www.behance.net/search?search=font

cschmidt 14y ago

I guess that might be some of the best free fonts, but even then I don't really like them. Most people using web fonts would have a Typekit account. I'd take most of the fonts on Typekit over this list. However, I've found that the WebType service actually has the best text fonts for small sizes. Headlines are nice, but what really matters is your <p> text. Their RE (Readability) series is excellent for small text. http://www.webtype.com/catalog/?wssmall=829 http://www.webtype.com/catalog/?wssmall=829 I'm personally using Benton Modern RE and Benton Modern Sans RE for smaller sizes, and Benton Modern Display for <h1> headlines.

ommunist 14y ago

These are so Latin-1 centric fonts, I doubt they are useful for the rest of the world.

lucian1900 14y ago
Even for European languages most fonts stuck. Text looks mostly fine, but any accented chars have a different font ...