[CQ-Contest] Slashed Zero Fonts

[Eric Scace K3NA]

  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