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Comic Sans, meet Comic Neue
- dghf 13y ago"... perfect ... for ... writing passive aggressive office memos." Marvellous.
- wsc981 13y agoI think this is going to be it's main selling point. I'm downloading the font as we speak :)
- computer 13y ago> "Download Comic Neue, free for a limited time" What does that mean? There's no real license information anywhere.
- chrisBob 13y agoA normal web page would probably have a link to the license information, but since you can't put links in CSS pages the author just had to make it open source.
- wut42 13y agowhat ? this is a normal web page. what do you mean CSS page ?
- chrisBob 13y agoBootstrap style pages look gorgeous, but don't tend to say anything useful, and I hate it. I know it has nothing to do with CSS, and it is technically possible to have a link to something useful when using a pretty design, but I have yet to see an example. Judging by the 25 (now 26) karma I lost I think a lot of people here really like good looking pages with no links or information.
- ceejayoz 13y agoWhat the hell are you on about? There are a variety of links on the page. You can't build a page out of CSS only.
- dang 13y ago> What the hell are you on about? Please don't address other users aggressively on Hacker News. Consider how much better this comment reads if one deletes the first sentence. It goes from being a bad HN comment to a good one immediately.
- da4c30ff 13y agoAn honest question: Isn't it that in some legal systems, an absence of license means public domain?
- slashdotaccount 13y agoMost of the world implemented the Berne Convention, which creates a thing called "copyright". In the world of copyright, absence of license means all rights reserved, except for "fair use", "fair dealing" and similar exceptions. In the world outside copyright law everything is in the public domain, no licenses necessary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention
- sp332 13y agoThe Berne Convention didn't invent copyright.
- schme 13y agoI don't think that was ever implied.
- sp332 13y agoWell, you can have copyright without declaring that everything is copyrighted when it is created. A lot of countries had systems like that until they ratified the Berne Convention.
- dragonwriter 13y agoNo, it wasn't implied, it was stated outright that the Berne Convention "creates a thing called copyright" (when, in fact, the Berne Convention harmonizes certain provisions of copyright law among those countries who adhere to it.)
- DrStalker 13y agoWhile I'm sure there is a legal system somewhere in the world that does that most places have automatic rights for intellectual property, even if you give it away for free. Trying to use this font for business would result in compliance issues, because it's unclear what you can and can't do with it.
- rebel 13y agoYeah, that seems like a terrible "license structure". If he added irrevocable I think it would be sufficient for use, but as is I can't understand how you could currently feel safe using it?
- pbhjpbhj 13y agoCurrently the site says: "No attribution is required, this free version of Comic Neue has been released into the public domain." and links to CC's public domain page at http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ .
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- lucaspiller 13y agoToo lazy or just oblivious that there are other fonts than just what is on their machine?
- forrestthewoods 13y agoYes. How dare those mothers use Comic Sans when printing a flyer for their child's birthday party instead of scouring the internet for a free but also appealing font!
- tomelders 13y agoI'm quietly confident it's made in jest.
- coffeecodecouch 13y agoFirst thoughts: I like it, it will be interesting to see what the typography community has to say. Slightly off topic, but it's funny how Comic Sans, a font, has become so widely hated and mocked even among non-tech savvy people. There seems to be a tipping point where something becomes cool to hate. It's absolutely impossible nowadays to use Comic Sans, even if it's completely appropriate for the situation, without being mocked by people who have never used anything else but Times New Roman.
- zokier 13y ago> without being mocked by people who have never used anything else but Helvetica. ftfy. I find that unquestioning love for Helvetica and hate for Comic Sans go hand in hand.
- fhars 13y agoI really should get that T-shirt I have been thinking about, with "Helvetica!" written on it in Comic Sans.
- BasDirks 13y agoThe kerning is sloppy, see "f ox".
- simias 13y agoYeah in italics it's all over the place. It doesn't bother me so much for the other variants.
- craigrozynski 13y agoWindows Chrome appears to be ignoring the kerning tables in the True Type files, as 'fox' appears fine (for me) on everything else I'm testing on. If I've missed something please let me know.
- hrrsn 13y agoLooks a bit off in Safari 7 too.
- iso8859-1 13y agoAre you sure it's ignoring them? mansr said the kerning table is incomplete. Could it be that you were just lucky on everything you tested on?
- antihero 13y agoLooks completely off in Chrome on Linux, too.
- mansr 13y agoChrome seems to ignore all kerning on all platforms. Firefox does a much better job.
- codeka 13y agoThese were taken in IE on Windows. The italic version seems far worse than the normal version, but they're all a bit wonky IMO. http://imgur.com/a/i5KjF http://imgur.com/a/i5KjF
- 13y ago
- lngric006 13y agoWho wants to break it to them that it should be jumps not jumped :)
- ChrisNorstrom 13y agoBeautiful. Friendly. Human. More readable. You've redeemed one of the most hated fonts. You might want to fix up a few kerning issues and re-release but overall I love it. Feels friendly and personable. If you can do the same with Papyrus you will be knighted.
- mansr 13y agoThen all we'll need is a pair of augmented reality glasses that replace Papyrus when looking at restaurant menus.
- malanj 13y agoI agree with this (http://www.snapily.com/blog/comic-sans-why-all-the-hate/ http://www.snapily.com/blog/comic-sans-why-all-the-hate/) and specifically the comment by the creator of Comic Sans: “If you love it, you don’t know much about typography,” Mr. Connare says. But, he adds, “if you hate it, you really don’t know much about typography, either, and you should get another hobby.” This meme was become a bit tiresome imho.
- dirtyaura 13y ago"Nothing says "local" like Comic Sans." (http://www.cooper.com/journal/2010/10/making_it_suck http://www.cooper.com/journal/2010/10/making_it_suck)
- rainedin 13y agoThat's funny. I've always found it very readable. I have also ridiculed it in the past. Probably unfairly. These days I actually have a soft spot for the font. I really like the update.
- ChikkaChiChi 13y agoFor years Comic Sans has been recognized as being one of the most readable fonts. It even is considered to be a preferred font for those dealing with dyslexia (http://www.luzrello.com/Publications_files/assets2013.pdf http://www.luzrello.com/Publications_files/assets2013.pdf). This seems to be a classic case of form vs. function.
- judk 13y agoUnreadable fonts are preferred for dyslexic readers, because the uncomfortableness of the font inhibits scanning (error-prone for dyslexics) and promotes reading-letter-by-letter. So there is a tension.
- CanSpice 13y agoIt is readable, but that's not why people dislike it. People dislike it because it gets used in inappropriate situations, like the aforementioned company-wide memos. It's fine when your kid's using it for a lemonade stand sign, but it's not when your Fortune 500 CEO sends out a monthly update.
- factorialboy 13y agoNice, a monospace variant would be awesome!
- dghf 13y agoPerfect for dogescript (https://github.com/remixz/dogescript https://github.com/remixz/dogescript).
- zokier 13y agoI think this is too regular/rigid to be true replacement to Comic Sans.
- symmetricsaurus 13y agoThe oblique versions don't work on Windows(7). The letter shapes are severely deformed and the sizes are all over the place. Otherwise I think it could be a usable font (if not for the prevailing opinion about comic sans).
- craigrozynski 13y agoHi, funny someone reported that issue about 6 hours ago. I re-upped the font files and it's looking fine for me now on Win 7, can you confirm?
- symmetricsaurus 13y agoI have tried downloading it again and it still looks bad when previewing the font. In Word it looks ok but I'm not sure if selecting Comic Neue and italics will use the oblique version or not? The oblique *.ttf files where last modified March 14 in the file I downloaded.
- notindexed 13y agothat kern ing
- kalms 13y agoI really like it, although the kerning definitely needs some fine tuning, as others have already mentioned. I have a hard time seeing it catching on though, but I hope I'm wrong! Good job!
- binarymax 13y agoThis is headed in the right direction - but certain things still make the text look not quite right. The angle on some of the vertical lines is still off, giving an unsettling effect, and the curve on 'C/c' need to be smoothed out a bit. Now the next step is to write a worm that replaces comic sans with this on all machines.
- craigrozynski 13y agoHi You will notice some issues if you use Windows Chrome, which doesn't render TTF well, particularly italics and obliques. The fix for this is to include SVG font files. I excluded SVG as they're 'advertised' as only existing to support legacy iOS. Today I found out that's not entirely the case. As for licensing, I provide the files for free for now and state on the site 'No attribution acquired'. I'm being vague because at this point I'm undecided whether to start selling it or not. Thanks :D
- idlewan 13y agoI would have appreciated if people in general chose a license before releasing font files. Right now, I have no idea if I'm able to use the font for a website or for a mobile application. You may provide .woff and @font-face .css, but you don't explicitly say that redistribution through @font-face is allowed. I also have no idea if I can embed the font in a mobile application (phonegap/cordova) through @font-face. That's what bugs me when designers provide 'for free' font files on a behance page, and what is also the case here: I am explicitly authorized to install the file locally, sometimes I am explicitly authorized to use it for 'commercial projects', and almost never am I explicitly allowed to redistribute it (which renders possible to use it on a website with @font-face or in a mobile or desktop app). As a developer, that sucks. That makes it seem like the 'free font' is for designers only (in the sense of: people that will only use the font to make an image, not a document, not a program). These problems are of course already solved by the SIL open font license (http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=OFL_web http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=OFL_web): with fonts released under this license, I am able to fix problems with the font (kerning etc...), I am able to redistribute it (@font-face, embed) AND the original designer is protected from people who want to sell the font ("The OFL allows the licensed fonts to be used, studied, modified and redistributed freely as long as they are not sold by themselves."). If you want to sell the font, go ahead and do it! However, promoting it here as free font for a limited time to a crowd of people who have a good chance of being developers, well...
- idlewan 13y agoI see you have updated the page and chosen to release the font in the public domain. That's really cool! Thanks!
- r12e 13y agoI've always loved comic sans, it's like a family Labrador that just wants to have fun. When more discerning people around me criticise it, I send them off to read: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole Thanks for the refresh, OP. I can't wait to see where I can sneak this in.
- stuaxo 13y agoBut does it work well in comics ?
- BESebastian 13y ago"The squashed, wonky, and weird glyphs of Comic Sans have been beaten into shape while maintaining the honesty that made Comic Sans so popular." Doesn't this directly make Comic Neue inferior to Comic Sans for people with dyslexia, one of the original fonts plus points.
- Tyrannosaurs 13y agoIf your aim is to be friendly to people with dyslexia there are better fonts than Comic Sans though.
- BESebastian 13y agoTrue, but I don't believe there's a more dyslexia friendly font in standard fonts which are available on more platforms. Just a little gripe of mine, to be honest, but it's really one of the only positive things to the font, and having it removed in the process of attempting to improve the font is a bit funny to me.
- Intermernet 13y agoJust a quick note to the authors: To test every letter in the English Language Alphabet use The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, and not The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Otherwise you miss the s. EDIT: Some fun reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pangrams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pangrams
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nctalaviya 13y agoThanks for sharing info...
- aaronetz 13y agoSlightly off-topic, but can someone recommend a good book about typography? I mean more about the history of typography, less about how to design new fonts.
- mattlutze 13y agoAn excellent read is Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style"[0], for both history and theory. 0: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Bringhurst/dp/0881792063 http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typographic-Style-Robert-Brin...
- elektronaut 13y agoAnd for the prose as well. My favourite quote: “A man who would letterspace lower case would steal sheep, Frederic Goudy liked to say. If this wisdom needs updating, it is chiefly to add that a woman who would letterspace lower case would steal sheep as well.”
- 1_player 13y agoI really enjoyed this online book, http://practicaltypography.com http://practicaltypography.com, and the typesetting is gorgeous.
- sevkih 13y agoshould've made it a banana stand, there is always money in the banana stand
- Wohui 13y ago"The squashed, wonky, and weird glyphs of Comic Sans have been beaten into shape while maintaining the honesty that made Comic Sans so popular." It's half as honest. It's dilute Comic Sans. It's the diet coke of casual.
- davexunit 13y agoProprietary font? No, thanks.
- ivanca 13y agoFYI "I-hate-comic-sans" is better and is permanently free: http://www.dafont.com/i-hate-comic-sans.font http://www.dafont.com/i-hate-comic-sans.font Also, Rondouillar: http://www.dafont.com/rondouillard.font?l[]=1 http://www.dafont.com/rondouillard.font?l[]=1
- Tloewald 13y agoThe metrics on this font are a bit weird. E.g. as the type gets bolder it seems to tighten up vertically.
- _ak 13y agoPeople keep listing alternatives, here's another one: Comic Jens. http://www.netzallee.de/extra/comic-jens-en http://www.netzallee.de/extra/comic-jens-en It's even CC-licensed.
- 1_player 13y agoAs a programmer, I really love Cosmic Sans Neue Mono (which I don't think is related to this typeface) -- now renamed to Fastasque Sans Mono: https://github.com/belluzj/fantasque-sans https://github.com/belluzj/fantasque-sans You either hate it or love it, and I find it gorgeous on Sublime Text.
- nollidge 13y agoI actually really like this... Consolas still seems to have better hinting, but this is pretty cool.
- LaSombra 13y agoThank you so much, I love it!
- philh 13y agoThe v/ν similarity is bringing up unpleasant memories of squinting at blackboards containing both those symbols, as well as u and μ for good measure. But mostly, I think that font looks pretty nice.
- IbJacked 13y agoThanks for the link. The first thing I did on their site was skim through the variations, looking for a mono version :)
- gdilna 13y agohttp://mixtopten.com/top-10-largest-gold-producers-in-the-world/ http://mixtopten.com/top-10-largest-gold-producers-in-the-wo...
- duongkai 13y agoIt does not support unicode characters.
- freshyill 13y agoYou know, there are, and have been many, many good comic fonts out there. Blambot sells them gives many others away for free. This is where actual comic book creators go for fonts. Anytime I see someone insisting on using Comic Sans, I gently inform them that Comic Sans isn't even a good comic font, and point them to Blambot, where they can get better ones. http://blambot.com http://blambot.com
- GFischer 13y agoReally cool, thanks for sharing. Now I must think of where can I use those fonts :) (not in the company website, surely :P )
- MartinCron 13y agoI tend to use comic or handwriting fonts for annotated screenshots when explaining visual or UI/UX things to people. It makes the distinction between the screenshot and my annotations sharper. There, now you have an excuse.
- pestaa 13y agoNice tip, thanks.
- joshdance 13y agoI like it.
- currysausage 13y agoWhat is "Comic Neue" supposed to mean? It's "Neue Helvetica", not "Helvetica Neue". It's only called "Helvetica Neue" in lists for the sake of alphabetical sorting. German "Neue" always stands before the noun. "New Helvetica" -> "Neue Helvetica". The generic form is "Neu", so "Helvetica New" -> "Helvetica Neu".
- talmand 13y agoYou're assuming too much. It doesn't have to mean anything; the creator of a font can name it whatever they wish.
- currysausage 13y agoIt's obviously a reference to "Neue Helvetica", and that is the font's name, not "Helvetica Neue", as too many people seem to believe. Just wanted to point that out.
- skywhopper 13y agoPublic domain license? Awesome! Typographers after my own heart. We need more people to be willing to release their work into the public domain. I'd love to see new open-source projects choose public domain over Apache- or BSD-style permissive licenses.
- MCarusi 13y agoI've never had a reason to use Comic Sans in any particular project, but the way people talk about it you'd think it was a mass murderer. It's just a typefont, guys.
- akdetrick 13y agoComic Sans does serve one good purpose; it's a dyslexia-friendly typeface. It's nice that Comic Neue preserves some of the letter "hints" (ie. the "b" and "d" glyphs have slightly different bottom terminals). Although if you're trying to optimize specifically for dyslexia, you'd be better off with something like OpenDyslexic [1]. [1] - http://opendyslexic.org/about/ http://opendyslexic.org/about/
- Pxtl 13y agoIt's bikeshedding since I know nothing about design, but I feel like the name is a bad fit. Comic Sans looks more like a comic speech-bubble script than Comic Neue. Comic Neue looks like a better hand-printed font, but it would look worse in a speech bubble.
- gahahaha 13y agoIt might not be a better alternative to Comic Sans for /that/ particular use case - but for most situations where Comic Sans is used today, Comic Neue would be an enormous improvement.