Font design for computer display is both an art and a demanding technical
discipline. This message discusses some of the challenges to good design...
reviews some of the fonts mentioned in the attached email... and makes a couple
of recommendations at the end.
===== Design challenges =====
For logging (and computer software programing) purposes, a well-designed font
should have these attributes:
-- unique glyphs (shapes) for each character in both upper and lower case.
Common problems are lower case "l", the digit 1, and upper case "I"... and
digit
zero and upper case "O".
-- a crisp display on pixelated computer displays (virtually every display
used today). Common problems are fonts that, at certain sizes, add or omit
some
pixels in the shape of a character, resulting in rough edges. Only the very
best designs can meet this goal at smaller sizes, and over a range of sizes on
computer displays. To achieve this goal requires both a very careful design
(using professional font design software) and meticulous "hinting".
-- glyphs that, when used in any combination, remain clear and separated
from each other. This is particularly challenging for the upper case letters
of
fixed-width fonts at typical to smaller reading sizes on computer screens. A
good test is to examine a string of characters such as MMM MWM WWW.
-- For clarity on computer screens, san serif fonts are much better than
serif fonts. Serifs add a fair amount of clutter to each glyph, which
decreases
readibility on a computer display.
-- To make matters more challenging, many logging software tools display
information in tables. A fixed-width font is often required to make the
columns
of the tables display properly. Fixed width fonts are more challenging to
design for a computer screen than proportional width fonts.
-- And, of course, we don't want to pay anything for this! Haha!
These goals are especially important for fonts that you will be staring at
for a 48-hour contest -- especially when trying to avoid logging errors. Fonts
which do not meet the above goals are also more tiring to look at over time.
This is not easy stuff. I have done a lot of research, and tried it myself!
===== Observations =====
The website mentioned here unfortunately contains many mediocre and poor
fonts that have been around for a long time. Here are some things to look
for...
Andale Mono with the slashed zero: This font was created by someone who
hack-edited the production Andale font, probably with a lower-grade font
editor. Much or all of the hinting required to make Andale display crisply at
a
wide range of sizes has been lost. As a result, the shape of characters such
as
lower case "w" in the 12-point size shown on the website is very rough.
Compare
the "w" in "brown" for the slashed-zero font to the dotted-zero example above
it. Similarly, look at the bowls of "8", "9" and zero.
In contrast, the dotted-zero font was done to professional standards.
Arial Slashed Zero was also a hack-edit, and displays the same loss of hinting.
Proggy and Crisp suffer when capital letters are typed next to each other, as
in
callsigns. For example, the callsign M0WMW is more difficult to read because
the letters touch each other at sizes such as 12. This is a result of a poor
design decision to make the glyphs too narrow.
Crystal has poor hinting. Examples in the 12-point size shown on the website
are the lower case "c", The top of the "8" is displaced to the left, compared
to the bottom. There are other problems at other sizes.
The entire collection of HAM fonts lack proper hinting. The glyphs vary in
thickness, for example: look at the left side vs right size of zero ... the
vertical stroke of 1 vs 4.... in the HAM Gothic Light
T93Y uses the same glyph for lower case L and upper case I. It is also poorly
hinted.
VAG Round and others are very thickly drawn. Thick strokes in the glyphs are
fine for titles, but not appropriate for large swaths of text... and occupy
more
width than necessary for a given amount of text. The VAG Round here was
hacked,
probably to add the slash to the zero, with a resultant loss of hinting. I and
l are the same shape...
===== Recommendations =====
For a fixed-width font used for logging (and computer programing), the best are
often fonts designed specifically for pixelated computer displays. These often
are not TrueType or OpenType fonts.
About the best is Dina, available for free. Download it here:
<www.donationcoder.com/Software/Jibz/Dina/>
73,
-- Eric K3NA
on 2010 Aug 27 15:32 John Miller said the following:
> Looking for a good Slashed Zero Font for your favorite Contest or
> Daily Logger?
>
> Nice collection from Anthony, K8ZT:
>
> http://www.k8zt.com/zero.html
>
> 73,
> John K6MM
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