←back to thread

Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

(www.reuters.com)
386 points italophil | 1 comments | 10 Dec 25 00:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.2s | source
Show context
zzo38computer ◴[10 Dec 25 06:40 UTC] No.46214792[source]▶
Calibri font has "I" and "l" the same, according to Wikipedia. A better font should avoid characters being too similar (such as "I" and "l" and "1").

Another issue is due to the font size and font metrics, how much space it will take up on the page, to be small enough to avoid wasting paper and ink but also not too small to read.

So, there are multiple issues in choosing the fonts; however, Times New Roman and Calibri are not the only two possible choices.

Maybe the government should make up their own (hopefully public domain) font, which would be suitable for their purposes (and avoiding needing proprietary fonts), and use that instead.

replies(14): >>46225128 #>>46225165 #>>46225177 #>>46225182 #>>46226184 #>>46227037 #>>46227151 #>>46227688 #>>46228144 #>>46228391 #>>46228533 #>>46229284 #>>46229535 #>>46230299 #
moomoo11 ◴[11 Dec 25 04:32 UTC] No.46227688[source]▶
No. I don’t want the gov wasting money making a fucking font.

There’s a few dozen off the shelf fonts that would work for 99.99% of people.

For those who it doesn’t work, deal with it. It’s a font. Or fallback to system font.

replies(2): >>46228631 #>>46229809 #
1. amluto ◴[11 Dec 25 10:45 UTC] No.46229809[source]▶
Neither Calibri nor Times New Roman are free to use, although they are free in certain contexts for Windows users. The US Government is paying plenty for them.