Question

[james_davis_nicoll]

Which font do people consider most readable?

This is mainly with regards to e-MSes but I will admit there are LJ accounts out there I don't read except off my flist because the font they are using is unreadable to my eyes.

Comments

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Personally a prefer a sans serif variable spaced font, like Helvetica, for on screen stuff, and a serif variable spaced font, like Times New Roman for print on paper. The exception is program code, which I prefer to look at in a sans serif fixed space font,

[oneironaut.livejournal.com]

I'm with you, including preferring Helvetica to most other sans serif fonts as far as readability and aesthetic satisfaction is concerned. Times is all right on paper but I find it intolerable on the screen, especially at small sizes.

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Serif fonts are just too detailed for a low resolution tool like a monitor. (1024x768, or less than 100 dots per inch, Offset printing tends to be 300 DPI and up.)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm a big fan of CG Omega (which was distributed with later HP LaserJet printers). One might technically classify it as a serif font, but it's the original Greek architectural serif, flaring the ends of lines just barely enough to counteract the optical illusion of lines narrowing at the ends, before the Romans totally missed the point and turned it into a freakish exaggeration which has now bedeviled us for the best part of two millennia. I find it beautifully clear and easy to read, as clean as a pure sans-serif font, but a little more elegant and less utilitarian.

[maruad.livejournal.com]

Helvetica is also my favourite. I used it for all my correspondence when I was in the regular work force. I prefered it to Arial MT (iirc) which was the font that was eventually adopted as our company standard.

[galbinus-caeli.livejournal.com]

Well, Arial isn't available to everybody.