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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 pro
by 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 agoHere'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 agoYou 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 agoI don't see how that post is making an objective argument.
- lowboy 13y agoPoor kerning/letterfit and wonky visual weight hinder reading. That would make Comic Sans objectively worse.
- boomlinde 13y agoIn a world where good/bad are exactly defined points on a single axis where the unit is readability (and where the relationship between kerning/letterfit and readability was similarly precisely defined) that might have been an objective argument.
- ebbv 13y agoYou don't have to be a font nerd to see that comic sans is ugly. Just like you don't have to be a car guy to see that an Aztek is ugly or Crocs are ugly. Anyone with any level of aesthetic sensibility will see these things intuitively. Unfortunately, most people do not have much if any aesthetic sensibility.
- shashwatak 13y agoYour post directly contradicts itself. If most people do not have much if any aesthetic sensibility, then perhaps you do need to be a font nerd (or a car nerd, shoe nerd, etc) to see these things intuitively.
- rfrey 13y ago"Few arguments are weaker than the creator of something dismissing all critics of it as ignorant." Something comes close though. Dismissing critics as amateurs without further discussion, and also saying anyone who doesn't intuitively agree has no aesthetic sensibility (as is said in a child comment below). These substance free dismissals are equivalent to your criticism of the creator's comments.
- ebbv 13y agoYou're over simplifying my comment. I gave further explanation by citing other examples which most people can recognize as ugly without further explanation. My point being that such things exist, and Comic Sans is one of those things. Whether you agree or not, I did not just dismiss people who don't agree as "wrong", as the creator of Comics Sans did. Though, obviously, I do view them as wrong, I gave my reasoning as to why. I could go into more detail as to the exact reasons why Comic Sans is ugly, but others have done a better job than I would elsewhere.