atw: Re: A philosophic diatribe on the vagaries of fashion (not as off topic as it looks)

I have never worked out why/how some HTML formatting comes through mailing
lists and some doesn’t, so the following may be lost on those of you who
don’t get formatting (even with mail set to get HTML).

 

“As to the hegemony of pundits and the fashion of ideas – innovation occurs
at the periphery.”  (Verdana 10)

“As to the hegemony of pundits and the fashion of ideas – innovation occurs
at the periphery.”  (Calibri 11)

“As to the hegemony of pundits and the fashion of ideas – innovation occurs
at the periphery.”  (Comic Sans 10)

 

I will act as the evangelist…

 

…take a little time to work with Calibri – it works well for both print and
on-line, and is not quite as wide as Verdana.  If you are still on 2003, you
can get a 2007 compatibility pack that gives you the 2007 fonts and doesn’t
seem to mess anything else up.

 

However,  I do think its strength is with the ”small font, tons of white
space” style of presentation that I prefer.

 

ck

 

From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Matthew da Silva
Sent: Wednesday, 24 October 2007 9:20 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: A philosophic diatribe on the vagaries of fashion (not as
off topic as it looks)

 

I only ever use Verdana 10pt at work and at home (blogging) as I find it the
best font for online delivery. In an earlier job publishing user manuals, I
settled on Garamond -- again, a 'broad' font that takes up space (what
newspapers using Times decline to accept) but that is easy on the eye.

 

As to the hegemony of pundits and the fashion of ideas – innovation occurs
at the periphery.

 

Matt

 

-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christine Kent
Sent: Wednesday, 24 October 2007 8:14 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: A philosophic diatribe on the vagaries of fashion (not as off
topic as it looks)

 

Oh Brian, I almost envy the certainty of "true believers".  

 

In my world, today's "expert" is always tomorrow's "chuntering" fool, even

the greatest of them, so I am not likely to prostrate myself at the feet of

some self appointed readability experts. 

 

Fashions change over time, and so will this one. 

 

Calibri is a good point in question - sans serif font, so supposedly not as

readable as a serif font.  I had already fallen in love with Comic Sans, but

knew it looked too "girlie" for general use. But for ME it was by far the

easiest font to read. Then material landed on my desk for review, written in

Calibri.  I wasn't sure - it looked nice, the page looked clean, but were my

eyes struggling?  I had a suite of books to do in Calibri and forgot about

any discomfort over time.  Then one landed on my desk that was written in

Time New Roman (with single spacing after full stops).  I actually couldn't

read it.  I had to change the fonts throughout to Calibri to review it.  My

fickle eyes had become "trained" to another font.

 

Our company has been happy to fall into line with Microsoft, and declare our

new company standard to be Calibri, as everyone who sees a document in

Calibri says how clean and easy it is to read.  Not scientific, I know, but

nor is most market research - it doesn't ask why people like what they like,

it just asks what.  Dollars talk.

 

But I do know that, in time, something new will emerge, standards will

change all over again and our eyes will get retrained again.  Let's hope

that Nana Mouskouri glasses and Arial 14pt never make a comeback!

 

So, at the end of the day, I admit that I am one of those dangerous radicals

who will take what I can from common wisdom, then make up my own mind - and

change it on a whim.  Not many of us on earth at present.

 

Christine

 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-

> bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Brian A Clarke

> Sent: Tuesday, 23 October 2007 9:44 PM

> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

> Subject: atw: Tell the U.S. Marines to Getz Tuft

> 

> Shouldn't we be asking the readability experts who actually have

> evidence

> on this sort of thing - rather than our chuntering on about how nice it

> looks?

> Brian.

> 

 

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7:53 PM

 

 

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Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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7:53 PM


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Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.15.0/1076 - Release Date: 17/10/2007
7:53 PM

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