Font geek-out

I was all ready to write about how fonts look so much better on Macs than on PCs until I found out about ClearType in Windows. Now don’t get me wrong, I still think fonts look gorgeous on my iBook, right out of the box: no fine-tuning necessary, which makes for a superior experience. But at work I use a Windows machine and thought I’d just have to live with those jagged little edges. That is, until I turned on ClearType, which is different from the standard font smoothing, and the extra resolution gives each letter more nuances specific to its font. The difference is supposed to be more dramatic on LCD screens. (I have a flat-screen CRT at work.) You can turn it on by using a web interface (which includes a fine-tuning tool) if you have XP, or manually by right-clicking on the desktop, then going to Properties > Appearance > Effects… and choosing ClearType instead of Standard to smooth fonts.

Speaking of typography, a while back I changed some of the specified fonts for Rebel Prince. On most Windows machines you will still see Georgia as the main body font, but I’ve also specified Hoefler Text, which is more prevalent on Macs. I love this font. It’s so distinctive. I especially like the italic capital Q, which resembles a cursive 2. I also like the numerals, which, like Georgia, descend below the baseline where appropriate. For secondary text (date headers, entry titles, sidebar, etc.), I’ve specified Lucida Grande and one of its Windows incarnations, Lucida Sans.

I’m rather fickle. (Who knows what this site will look like next week?) But I’m also rather lazy. (The same.)