Comments on: The Tyranny of Times New Roman

By: AdamsDrafting » Blog Archive » It’s Time for a Typeface Change

AdamsDrafting » Blog Archive » It’s Time for a Typeface Change — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:01:55 +0000

[...] suggested in this November 2006 post that Times New Roman isn’t a thing of [...]

By: Julie Xane

Julie Xane — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 03:43:09 +0000

I have been using Book Antiqua for years (yay for you Mark, I’ve never seen anyone else even mention the font), and I love it. I absolutely abhor Times New Roman (and Times Roman) for some reason, and I honestly have no idea why I use Book Antiqua. But as far as sans serif fonts go, Tahoma or Verdana win in my opinion.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 06:46:55 +0000

I have been using Book Antiqua for nearly two years in all of my appellate briefs. I changed from Times New Roman after consulting the website for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which has an extensive section on fonts, typeface and formatting. Basically, it boils down to the fact that appellate drafting and trial court drafting are two different animals.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:03:39 +0000

Contracts that I drafted were done in Times because I knew they print OK wherever I sent them. Times is the standard in Florida courts and in much of the federal govrnment. It is not my favorite.

I used Palatino for my office correspondance, althought typographers will tell you it has been vastly overused. I expetimented with Myriad (Apple’s corporate font), but did not want to pay the steep licensing fees for the full set of fonts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad_(typeface)

Here is a comment on the new faces coming in Microsoft’s Vista. http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683

My compliments for reading Felici and caring enough to have your documents look good.

By: Sherry Wiebe

Sherry Wiebe — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:54:50 +0000

In case you are interested in some font trivia,
The Financial Post (Canada) on Saturday Oct. 14, 2006 published an interesting article.

I roughly paraphrase some of it:

Among the facts were trivia like Beyonce and Bjork had commissioned their own fonts.

Designers, including typeface designers, have told me that a font’s history as well as its application give it allure. One story circulating is about Steve Jobs from Apple. He is supposed to have taken calligraphy classes while at university (rather than attending other potentially more useful courses!), and when looking for a unique look for his computer, included as early fonts some of his learned calligraphy styles.

Some well known designers of fonts include Matthew Carter, who created Verdana which was one of the internet’s first (later to become default font of choice), as well as Georgia. Both were commissioned by Microsoft as signature fonts. Carter also created Bell Centennial, seen in US phone directories.

Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones of Hoefler/Frere Jones Foundry are prolific creators.

Arial is to Helvetica, apparently, as designer knock-offs are to couture gowns. H is 50 years old, and has been used for public signs, partly due to its “neutral” quality. H was believed to add no emotion to the words it portrayed.

Gotham is one of more popular fonts of the decade. Check out popular book publications.

Also, check out Typographica,an online daily journal of typography. It has the top ten typefaces for recent years, and evaluates their quality and longevity.

sherry

By: J.D.

J.D. — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 21:54:55 +0000

Allow me to suggest Georgia and Bookman Old Style. I haven’t used Times New Roman in years.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:45:12 +0000

Our firm uses FuturaA Bk BT as a standard. I’ve compared it with those that have been suggested. The Century (I could only find Gothic, not Schoolbook) and FuturaA Bk BT seem to be the clearest and easiest to read on-screen. The Century seems unnecessarily large once printed. The Garamond and TNR actually seem quite comparable.

By: Ray Ward

Ray Ward — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 01:57:00 +0000

Try Century Schoolbook; it’s what the Supreme Court and Solicitor General use.

By: j-lon

j-lon — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 18:11:48 +0000

I like Palatino. That’s what I use, unless I’m really trying to keep the page count down. Then I’ll use Times.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:09:31 +0000

A quick test on my own system reveals that Garamond is almost 13 (close to 12.7) ems, but TNR is closer to 13.5ems.

On another note, I’m very cautious of changing fonts away from ones that I know everyone has installed for fear of ugliness and reversion.

Frankly, I’m much more likely to futz with paragraph alignment and font-size than I am to play with typeface.

The worst thing, at least in regards to typeface, I’ve recieved from opposing counsel was one where they had badly messed with character spacing. That makes things really weird until you realized what’s happening.