Learn what differences there are between these two classes of typefaces
Fonts are specific variations (like italic, bold, Roman) of one major
typeface. Times is a typeface. Arial is a typeface. Arial bold is a font.
For example, the typeface family Helvetica includes more than 30
different fonts among which we can list Helvetica, Helvetica Condensed,
Helvetica Compressed, Helvetica Extended, Helvetica Black, Helvetica Light
and many others plus all the fonts derived from the declination of each of
these into the plain (Roman), italic (oblique), bold, and bold italic
styles.
Technically speaking, each one of the above is a different font. In the
every day use and normal language we have come to accept the word
"font" also as a substitute of the word "typeface".
Fonts can be subdivided in two general visual categories:
"Serif" and "Sans-serif".
Serif fonts have curls, small appendixes at the end of each letter.
From the online dictionary of Merriam-Webster's "any of the short
lines stemming from and at an angle to the upper and lower ends of the
strokes of a letter". These appendixes have the purpose of helping
the reader's eye connect all the sequence of letters.
Serif fonts are mostly used in newspapers and books when text is small and tight.
Serif fonts include: Times, Palatino, Garamond, Century Schoolbook,
Book Antiqua, and all other fonts characterized by tiny appendixes at the
end of their forms.
Sans-serif fonts (from the French word "sans" that means
without) are all those fonts which have letters with straight lines and no
curls or appendixes. Their letterform is neat, defined, clean. They are
mostly used for titles, captions, callouts, and in general any time there
is not too much text and readability is an issue. Sans-serif fonts are
definitely more readable than Serif fonts.
Sans-serif fonts include: Arial, Helvetica, Futura, Tahoma, Avant-Garde,
Univers, Century Gothic, Verdana, and all other fonts characterized by
clean letterforms.
When you are about to choose the fonts for your presentation, always
remember the distinction between Serif and Sans-serif. Prefer Sans-serif
fonts for titles and text boxes, and any time your presentation needs to
be readable from far.
As a general tip that you will find useful, when you are about to
choose a font style, always remember that not all the fonts can be
properly displayed on different operating systems (e.g. Windows, Macintosh
or Unix), different printers (e.g. ink-jet or laser printer), different
browsers (Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator).
Let's make it easier to understand: if I have installed on my laptop
some "cool" fonts, let's say from Corel or Adobe, I see them
displayed in the drop-down list, and they are listed with all my other
default fonts.
If I create a presentation using that "cool" font, and then I
run the show on a different machine or try to print it from a standard
printer, I may not be able to see the font I had chosen. The operating
system or the printer itself will replace my "cool" but unknown
font with a standard one.
If you want to avoid this, just choose your fonts picking them from the
following "universal" font list: Arial, Verdana, Tahoma for the
Sans-serif family, Times New Roman, Garamond, Century Schoolbook for the
Serif fonts. And please have a look also at the article about
"bullet" styles, since this last tip is valid also for the
bullets.
You can read this article in the original issue of MasterView.
