7 ms·

I 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 comme

by malanj 13y ago

I 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 ago
That'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 ago
  For 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 ago
    Unreadable 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 ago
  It 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.
  - copperheart 13y ago
    This is precisely why I dislike Comic Sans. Case in point: our shop handles advertising and print work for a prominent local hospital, and we were asked to design a invitation for a formal, black tie dinner reception being held for a new doctor. We designed the invitation using a formal-looking font combination of Edwardian Script and Adobe Garamond Pro, however the draft was rejected and we were asked to replace all fonts with Comic Sans. The end result looked informal and amateurish, more suitable for a neighborhood barbecue flyer than a black tie dinner invitation.
ebbv 13y ago
Few arguments are weaker than the creator of something dismissing all critics of it as ignorant. The reality is Comic Sans is awful to look at. But the big problem is its ubiquity because amateurs are drawn to it, much like Papyrus.
- ForHackernews 13y ago
  > The reality is Comic Sans is awful to look at. Honest question: Why? What does this even mean? What makes a font "awful"? Surely this is a matter of personal taste and/or collective fashions? I guess I'm an outlier since it's become cool to be a font nerd, but I really do not give a shit about typefaces. Except for difficult-to-read cursive scripts, pretty much everything looks fine. I find it difficult to conceive of how so many people get so worked up over this stuff.
  - karlshea 13y ago
    Here's an explanation about why it's objectively bad: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/ http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/ I think the reason the Internet hates it in general is mostly because of its use in inappropriate places (I even saw a picture of a funeral announcement that used it).
    - munificent 13y ago
      You think a funeral announcement is bad, try a funeral home's sign: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dove+Funeral+Home+Inc:+Daugherty+Gary+A/@28.524261,-81.331675,3a,15y,182.14h,88.86t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sPmmB5HxuKkRskSdi63x5yw!2e0!4m5!1m2!2m1!1sfuneral+homes!3m1!1s0x0:0x65fb60788e5c705!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dove+Funeral+Home+Inc:+Dau...
    - boomlinde 13y ago
      I don't see how that post is making an objective argument.
      - 13y ago
nhebb 13y ago
I can't say I hate Comic Sans itself, but I remember getting company-wide emails sent out in Comic Sans, like flyers for a bake sale. At that point I realized that it's the people sending them that I despised, not the font. Plus, when my daughter was in 3rd grade, she used Comic Sans for everything, and suddenly it wasn't so ugly. Meanwhile, her teacher sent out weekly class notes in Kristen ITC. If unicorns shit fonts, I'm pretty sure it would be Kristen
- basseq 13y ago
  If you want to fix the Comic Sans "problem" (in quotes as folks have varying views), you'd need to replace it as a default font on both Windows and OS X. Releasing a font, even a free one, makes almost no difference, as I'd bet 99.9% of the people who use Comic Sans "incorrectly" have no knowledge of how to do so. (Or impetus.) THAT particular coup would make any font designer get a faraway look in their eyes.
  - Patrick_Devine 13y ago
    While your cynical assessment of the chances for Comic Neue is almost certainly accurate, at least there's a chance that Comic Neue could replace Comic Sans if it makes a big enough splash that it turns heads at Microsoft or Apple. Of course, you're saying this in a forum filled with entrepreneurs where each of us has a slim chance in hell of turning our rinky-dink start-ups into unicorns. We do it anyway. A dreamer has got to dream.
    - basseq 13y ago
      Oh, absolutely. My point is really about pivoting to address the real problem and customer. It's not, "I, Joe Consumer, want a better-looking-but-casual typeface." It's, "I'll pick one that looks cool from the drop-down-menu-thingee."
  - niutech 12y ago
    You can replace Comic Sans with Neue in all browsers: https://github.com/niutech/comic-sans-replacer https://github.com/niutech/comic-sans-replacer

by malanj 13y ago

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 ago

That'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 ago
For 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 ago
  Unreadable 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 ago
It 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.
- copperheart 13y ago
  This is precisely why I dislike Comic Sans. Case in point: our shop handles advertising and print work for a prominent local hospital, and we were asked to design a invitation for a formal, black tie dinner reception being held for a new doctor. We designed the invitation using a formal-looking font combination of Edwardian Script and Adobe Garamond Pro, however the draft was rejected and we were asked to replace all fonts with Comic Sans. The end result looked informal and amateurish, more suitable for a neighborhood barbecue flyer than a black tie dinner invitation.

ebbv 13y ago

Few arguments are weaker than the creator of something dismissing all critics of it as ignorant. The reality is Comic Sans is awful to look at. But the big problem is its ubiquity because amateurs are drawn to it, much like Papyrus.

ForHackernews 13y ago
> The reality is Comic Sans is awful to look at. Honest question: Why? What does this even mean? What makes a font "awful"? Surely this is a matter of personal taste and/or collective fashions? I guess I'm an outlier since it's become cool to be a font nerd, but I really do not give a shit about typefaces. Except for difficult-to-read cursive scripts, pretty much everything looks fine. I find it difficult to conceive of how so many people get so worked up over this stuff.
- karlshea 13y ago
  Here's an explanation about why it's objectively bad: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/ http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/why-you-hate-comic-sans/ I think the reason the Internet hates it in general is mostly because of its use in inappropriate places (I even saw a picture of a funeral announcement that used it).
  - munificent 13y ago
    You think a funeral announcement is bad, try a funeral home's sign: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dove+Funeral+Home+Inc:+Daugherty+Gary+A/@28.524261,-81.331675,3a,15y,182.14h,88.86t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sPmmB5HxuKkRskSdi63x5yw!2e0!4m5!1m2!2m1!1sfuneral+homes!3m1!1s0x0:0x65fb60788e5c705!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dove+Funeral+Home+Inc:+Dau...
  - boomlinde 13y ago
    I don't see how that post is making an objective argument.
    - 13y ago

nhebb 13y ago

I can't say I hate Comic Sans itself, but I remember getting company-wide emails sent out in Comic Sans, like flyers for a bake sale. At that point I realized that it's the people sending them that I despised, not the font. Plus, when my daughter was in 3rd grade, she used Comic Sans for everything, and suddenly it wasn't so ugly. Meanwhile, her teacher sent out weekly class notes in Kristen ITC. If unicorns shit fonts, I'm pretty sure it would be Kristen

basseq 13y ago
If you want to fix the Comic Sans "problem" (in quotes as folks have varying views), you'd need to replace it as a default font on both Windows and OS X. Releasing a font, even a free one, makes almost no difference, as I'd bet 99.9% of the people who use Comic Sans "incorrectly" have no knowledge of how to do so. (Or impetus.) THAT particular coup would make any font designer get a faraway look in their eyes.
- Patrick_Devine 13y ago
  While your cynical assessment of the chances for Comic Neue is almost certainly accurate, at least there's a chance that Comic Neue could replace Comic Sans if it makes a big enough splash that it turns heads at Microsoft or Apple. Of course, you're saying this in a forum filled with entrepreneurs where each of us has a slim chance in hell of turning our rinky-dink start-ups into unicorns. We do it anyway. A dreamer has got to dream.
  - basseq 13y ago
    Oh, absolutely. My point is really about pivoting to address the real problem and customer. It's not, "I, Joe Consumer, want a better-looking-but-casual typeface." It's, "I'll pick one that looks cool from the drop-down-menu-thingee."
- niutech 12y ago
  You can replace Comic Sans with Neue in all browsers: https://github.com/niutech/comic-sans-replacer https://github.com/niutech/comic-sans-replacer