From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.comp.tex.context/67076 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Christian Newsgroups: gmane.comp.tex.context Subject: Re: What are the best fonts to use Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:15 +0100 Message-ID: <4D80EA83.9090109@gmx.de> References: <20110315003147.GC30375@beigebox> Reply-To: mailing list for ConTeXt users NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; Format="flowed" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1300294295 4698 80.91.229.12 (16 Mar 2011 16:51:35 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:51:35 +0000 (UTC) To: mailing list for ConTeXt users Original-X-From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Wed Mar 16 17:51:30 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl ([195.12.62.10]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1PztwY-0004o0-LI for gctc-ntg-context-518@m.gmane.org; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:30 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 86E80CAB25; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:29 +0100 (CET) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at balder.ntg.nl Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (balder.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id M6pZD9RCS3pg; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:26 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC680CAB20; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:26 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id 67D6FCAB20 for ; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:25 +0100 (CET) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at balder.ntg.nl Original-Received: from balder.ntg.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (balder.ntg.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id GPOi-AE30XJP for ; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:22 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from filter2-ams.mf.surf.net (filter2-ams.mf.surf.net [192.87.102.70]) by balder.ntg.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id DF02ECAAF0 for ; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:22 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from mailout-de.gmx.net (mailout-de.gmx.net [213.165.64.23]) by filter2-ams.mf.surf.net (8.14.3/8.14.3/Debian-5+lenny1) with SMTP id p2GGpMWm009018 for ; Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:51:22 +0100 Original-Received: (qmail invoked by alias); 16 Mar 2011 16:51:21 -0000 Original-Received: from f053212090.adsl.alicedsl.de (EHLO [192.168.178.28]) [78.53.212.90] by mail.gmx.net (mp003) with SMTP; 16 Mar 2011 17:51:21 +0100 X-Authenticated: #61879178 X-Provags-ID: V01U2FsdGVkX19LEP5kvJZLJAsDO9V4ywB4615dptsMlGvxF+dA5q bQ0LLM8wHmv3rx User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; de; rv:1.9.2.15) Gecko/20110303 Thunderbird/3.1.9 In-Reply-To: X-Y-GMX-Trusted: 0 X-Bayes-Prob: 0.0001 (Score 0, tokens from: @@RPTN) X-CanIt-Geo: ip=213.165.64.23; country=DE; latitude=51.0000; longitude=9.0000; http://maps.google.com/maps?q=51.0000,9.0000&z=6 X-CanItPRO-Stream: uu:ntg-context@ntg.nl (inherits from uu:default, base:default) X-Canit-Stats-ID: 0rEjQPmj5 - 36c916cb7c98 - 20110316 X-Scanned-By: CanIt (www . roaringpenguin . com) on 192.87.102.70 X-BeenThere: ntg-context@ntg.nl X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12 Precedence: list List-Id: mailing list for ConTeXt users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Errors-To: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.comp.tex.context:67076 Archived-At: Hi, I recently started to dabble in typography. There's a lot to learn there. The proposed book sure is a good start, but there are also lots of online resources (e.g. www.typophile.com - their forum is filled with interesting discussions about your question). What I've learned in the last months is that there are no hard rules - only guidelines. When it comes to choosing a font for a book, it depends (like already mentioned) on the kind of book. A dragon-fantasy book may take a different font than a childrens book or a futuristic novel. Compare for example Monotype Centaur to ITC Stone Serif. Then again, the font should not distract from the contents of the book, but it can help adding a little "soul" to it. You also have to consider the features you need. Do you need greek or russian characters? Do you need small caps? How is the ligature support? Maybe oldstyle numbers would be nice? Do the italics please you or are they too fancy and somehow don't fit in? How many cuts (italic, semibold, bold) do you need? Another tip would be: go to the library or check the books you own for a pleasing design and adopt it (I think in this case, copying/ "stealing" is a good thing ;). Sometimes the typeface used is mentioned on the publishing information on the first couple of pages. If not, use www.whatthefont.com and a scan/photo to identify or use www.identifont.com with the Q&A system. And theres always the list of more or less safe fonts (no claim to be complete): Arnhem Bembo Caslon Dante Fournier Garamond Goudy (Old Style) Hoefler Text Janson Text Minion Palatino Sabon Stone And finally: Your budget. Are you willing to buy fonts? That would probably come in at 30-60 bucks (but that's nothing if you are serious aboutt your book). If not, some of the above can be obtained for free (still being commercial fonts, e.g. Minion with Adobe Reader, Hoefler Text is on Mac OSX...) but only a few are really free. Apart from the TeX-fonts I can thing of Linux Libertine (not resticted to Linux, despite the name), Vollkorn or some from "The League of moveable type". As a final inspiration, this beauty: http://fontsinuse.com/moby-dick-the-arion-press-edition/ Take care, Christian Am 20:59, schrieb Curiouslearn: > Cecil, thanks for asking this question. Even though the answers > may/will be subjective, it is quite likely that there are people here > who have given some thought to font choice. I agree with previous > responses that reading a book on typography would certainly be > helpful. Nevertheless, I am interested in hearing what fonts people > like (if they do not mind sharing). I, and perhaps some others, may > learn about a few fonts. > > Bharat > > > On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 8:31 PM, David Rogers > wrote: >> * Cecil Westerhof [2011-03-14 12:44]: >> >>> At the moment I use for my ebook: >>> \usetypescript[palatino][texnansi] >>> \setupbodyfont[palatino,rm,12pt] >>> >>> Does not look to bad, but layout is not my forte. So if people have tips >>> about the fonts to use, I like to hear them. >>> >>> Do you use other fonts when using a printed book? >> >> >> I don't think this question can have one answer. There are many good >> answers, depending on the kind of book (or other printed material). >> >> 1. I think the layout of the page itself can have a great deal to do >> with whether a certain font looks good (e.g. amount of white space, >> length of lines, etc). Paying proper attention to the "gross" aspects of >> your layout, such as margins and line heights, goes a long way to >> improving the appearance of the whole work, and brings out the best in >> whichever font you choose. >> >> 2. To some extent, different fonts can suit different material (e.g. a >> book of poems vs a financial report, or a textbook vs a novel). For >> extended reading, the conventional wisdom is to choose a >> "normal-looking" font that doesn't call attention to itself too much, >> but obviously you also want one that is at least somewhat attractive to >> look at. >> >> 3. Frankly, giving people what they are already used to is often the >> best plan - probably more often than typographers would care to admit. >> In my opinion, variation for its own sake is over-rated and over-used. >> >> -- >> David >> ___________________________________________________________________________________ >> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to >> the Wiki! >> >> maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / >> http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context >> webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net >> archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ >> wiki : http://contextgarden.net >> ___________________________________________________________________________________ >> > ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context webpage : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net archive : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/ wiki : http://contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________