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Open Sans like all the other Helvetica replacements (except Arial) are only cool the first few days. After that it's like, nah, gimme back Helvetica (which have
by wfoof 13y ago
Open Sans like all the other Helvetica replacements (except Arial) are only cool the first few days. After that it's like, nah, gimme back Helvetica (which have been cool since the 70s):
http://helveticafilm.com http://helveticafilm.com
- cpeterso 13y agoI prefer Helvetica Neue (1983); its spacing and curves are a little more relaxed than traditional Helvetica. Plus, Helvetica is notorious for being rendered poorly on Windows web browsers. Since Windows does not have a Helvetica Neue (unless the user has installed an Adobe design application), you can avoid Helvetica on Windows with a CSS font stack like: font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;
- msutherl 13y agoI don't understand, Helvetica Neue renders awfully at body-text sizes on computer displays. Unless you need the light weights, use Arial. It's Helvetica made to look good on computers under 16px. font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
- bryne 13y ago16px is proper body-text size.
- msutherl 13y ago"Proper". I agree with Oliver Reichenstein's argument[1], but Google does 13px and it's fine. The font-size in most desktop apps is less than 16px. Human's are adaptable. 16px is just more comfortable. [1]: http://ia.net/blog/100e2r http://ia.net/blog/100e2r
- titlex 13y agoUnfortunately, Helvetica Neue also renders poorly on Windows web browsers. It's a problem that I have been seeing a lot lately, especially with the popularity of Twitter Bootstrap. I understand that being a Windows user with Helvetica/Helvetica Neue installed is not very common, but when a website has an unreadable font I immediately leave it.
- mryall 13y agoI've had some success with removing specific fonts entirely: font-family: sans-serif; You get Helvetica on Mac, Arial on Windows and various other default fonts on other platforms. Users can also pick their own font via browser settings. For pixel-perfect alignment, you need to deal with some minor size differences between the fonts, but pixel-perfect design is not really achievable in many designs anyway.
- nsmartt 13y agoI disagree, simply because Open Sans is, well, open.
- Samuel_Michon 13y agoOpen != better I’m more than happy to pay Typekit to provide my website visitors with high quality fonts that are optimized for all major platforms and conform to my clients’ brand guidelines. Adobe Typekit[1] even has a free tier that lets you use many of the fonts in its catalog and all requests are handled by their CDNs, saving you bandwidth (=money). Even when I have carte blanche, I rather use Myriad or Frutiger over Open Sans. On OS X and iOS, Open Sans appears unbalanced to me. As for the openness: if somehow Typekit’s CDNs are down, there’s always the fallback fonts, like Helvetica/Arial. I don’t see a need to start hosting fonts myself or settle for less than ideal fonts hosted elsewhere. [1] I subscribed to Typekit years before it was acquired by Adobe, and I feared Adobe would ruin it, but to my surprise, since the acquisition the service has only gotten better.
- jongala 13y agoOpen Sans is not a Helvetica replacement / poor man's Helvetica just because it is sans-serif. It belongs along side other beautiful sans faces like Avenir, Frutiger, Myriad, and others that have their own styles and worthiness in design. Helvetica is indeed cool (the Neue family cooler, IMO) and has been since the 50s, and _Helvetica_ is also cool. Thinking of Helvetica as the only worthwhile sans-serif typeface is less cool :)
- nollidge 13y agoHelvetica's great, but it's pretty awful for body text, and particularly awful on a monitor.