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posted on 04/15/08
Serifs on the Web
It’s been a little while since I’ve uploaded to the /demo folder, but the more and more I see beautiful serif type around the web, the more and more I feel like I have to play with it. And if you haven’t seen any beautiful serif web typography recently, check out Seed Conference or Twisted Intellect.
But here’s my little serif demo. My idea is this: If you can make a flexible layout, you’ve always got Georgia or Times New Roman to fall back on. Why not try some new Serifs? The problem of course is that most PCs aren’t going to have fonts like Baskerville or Garamond installed, but that’s why I say make a flexible layout. Seed Conference proves that Times New Roman can still be beautiful, so if your layout can work with different letter widths and heights, try something for the folks (Mac users…) that have some beautiful fonts installed. On the demo, I’ve set font-family to font-family:"Hoefler Text",Baskerville,Garamond,Times New Roman;. Hoefler Text of course from the talented Jonathan Hoefler. So if you have a site that warrants it, try something nice for the folks that are able to appreciate it, and just double check that it still looks good for anyone else that can’t. I know it caused a bit of a stir on JeffCroft.com, but I think the issue of type on the web is far from resolved.
John Arnor Lom
posted on Apr 15, 03:00 PM
Thanks for the linkback! Glad you like it!
Also, I think you raise a very good and interesting point; not only about serifs, but about web type in general. I think many designers are too stuck in the mindset that things need to look exactly the same for all users. And if that’s your philosophy, you’ll end up limiting yourself to what IE4 can do.
As long as you make sure that the person running IE4 still gets a good experience, there’s nothing wrong with rewarding those that run modern browsers with good typefaces installed.
By the way; great demo of web type as well! (In my opinion, it could use a little more leading overall, and a little looser kerning on the first line [with the smcaps]… May just be me, though…)
Keep up the great work!
Matt
posted on Apr 15, 03:14 PM
@John no problem, I saw it pop up on typesites a few after my big noob review, and I really dug the design.
I think there’s a lot to be said for making a web site function on every browser, but if it looks slightly different, I think that’s alright.
And I checked my kerning and leading. Thanks for the tips.
Dave
posted on Apr 25, 10:29 AM
I’m viewing this with Times New Roman, and it looks superb. Thanks for pointing out all those small details
bayrak
posted on Jul 20, 11:25 AM
thank you so much
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Pixelspread is the webblog and portfolio of Matt McInerney. If you'd like to learn a little more, check out the about section.
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XHTML CSShistory
- Summer Jun 02
- A Brief Update Apr 30
- The Freebies Section Apr 16
- Serifs on the Web Apr 15
- More Alphabets Apr 04
- New Alphabet Apr 02
- FontStruct Apr 02
Joshua Kendall
posted on Apr 15, 11:42 AMNice demo Matt.
The latest incarnation of my Portfolio site actually only uses serifs. It still needs some adjustments, but the serifs really add something to it.