Is times new roman a serif or sans serif font
Serif and sans-serif fonts Consider the following characters. The first is set in Georgia, a lovely serif font. The second is set in Verdana, an easy- to-read sans-serif font. serif sans serif Notice the small decorative flourishes at the ends of the strokes in the left character. These are called serif. The right character does not have these strokes and is said to be in a sans-serif font. ( Sans is the French word for without.) Times New Roman is a commonly used serif font. Arial is a commonly used sans-serif font. Use serif for printed work Serif fonts are usually easier to read than sans-serif fonts. This is because the serif make the individual letters more distinctive and easier for our brains to recognise quickly. Without the serif, the brain has to spend longer identifying the letter because the shape is less distinctive. The commonly used convention for printed work is to use a serif font for the body of the work. A sans-serif font is often used for headings and captions. Use sans serif for online work An important exception must be made for the web. Printed works generally have a resolution of at least 1,000 dots per inch; whereas, computer monitors are less than 100 dots per inch. This lesser resolution can make very small serif characters harder to read than the equivalent sans-serif characters because of their more complex shapes. It follows that small on-screen text is better in a sans-serif font like Verdana or Arial. Free chapters Download Scribe's free report writing chapter. Download Scribe's free apostrophes chapter. Download Scribe's free plain English chapter.
Ok, my blogging program lets me pick a font. Now what? Your most important typographic decision is what will be the main font you use on your pages as this font will set a visual tone for your pages. While there are a variety of decrotative fonts that look good as headlines, for this main font, you should pick between a serif or a sans serif body text font. Serif: A serif is the extra little stroke, those little curves, at the ends of letters: Figure 17. Examples of serif fonts. Sans Serif: “ Sans” literally means “without,” so a sans serif font does not include any extra stroke at the ends of the letters: Figure 18. Examples of sans serif fonts. Many people feel that sans serif fonts look “cleaner” and more “modern,” while serif fonts look more traditional, more book-like. The conventional wisdom has been that serif fonts are more readable—particularly in print—while sans serif fonts are more legible. If you have to read large blocks of text, the serifs at the ends of letters makes them easier to identify and easier to read. On the other hand, the simplicity of Sans Serif fonts are thought to make these fonts more legible and easier to read in small sizes or on coarse screens. For these reason, you see lots and lots of sans serif fonts on web pages. Which should you use? We are not convinced that the serif vs. sans serif argument really matters anymore. Pick a font you like that fits the tone and the message of your site. Pick a font that you think will appeal to the sorts of people that you want to read your stuff. If you have a more traditional site, you may want a more traditional serif font. If you want a more hip, modern look, you may want a sans serif font.
Credit: lyeyee/ Shutterstock Want to make sure a hiring manager reads your résumé? A good first step is to type it in a legible, professional-looking font. You might be the perfect candidate, but employers will never know it if they can't even make out the text on your application. Since a prospective employer is looking at the résumé for only [a few] seconds, you want [a font] that is aesthetically pleasing and grabs the employer's attention at a quick glance, said Wendi Weiner, a certified professional résumé writer and founder of The Writing Guru. The résumé should be sophisticated in design with clear headings that stand out. There are hundreds of different fonts available, so picking one for your résumé can be a difficult process. Though there are several different font families, most job seekers go with serif — a stylized font with tails and other decorative markings, like Times New Roman — or sans-serif, a simpler, no-frills font like Arial. A Weemss infographic on the psychology of fonts said that serif typefaces are associated with being reliable, impressive, respectable, authoritative and traditional, while sans-serif fonts are seen as universal, clean, modern, objective and stable. No matter which font family you choose, your résumé typeface should be easy on the eyes and show up well both in print and on a screen, regardless of size or formatting. It's also a good idea to choose a standard, universal font that works on any computer's operating system, as your résumé will also likely be scanned by automated applicant tracking software. According to résumé and career experts around the Web, here are the best font choices for job seekers, and the kind of message each one sends to potential employers. Arial. If you want to use a sans-serif font, Arial is one of the best options for your résumé. Barbara Safani, owner of the career management firm Career.
Update March 2012 See my expanded critique of Colin Wheildon’s legibility research. Back in 1998 when Times New Roman was still widely used on the web, my then boss made sure we always designed our web sites with Arial, as she hated the look of serif fonts on the web. Was it the case that sans serif fonts were more legible, or was it just a matter of taste? In 2003 as part of my master’s degree I reviewed over 50 empirical studies in typography and found a definitive answer. Introduction An argument has been raging for decades within the scientific and typographic communities on what seems a very insignificant issue: Do serifs contribute to the legibility of typefaces, and by definition, are sans serif typefaces less legible? To date, no one has managed to provide a conclusive answer to this issue. Part 1 provides typographical definitions. Part 2 reviews the evidence for and against the legibility of serif and sans serif typefaces. 1. Definitions Legibility vs. readability Legibility is concerned with the very fine details of typeface design, and in an operational context this usually means the ability to recognise individual letters or words. Readability however concerns the optimum arrangement and layout of whole bodies of text: An illegible type, set it how you will, cannot be made readable. But the most legible of types can be made unreadable if it is set to too wide a measure, or in too large or too small a size for a particular purpose.( Dowding 1957, p.5; in Lund, 1999 ) Typographical features There are many elements in the design of a typeface which can contribute to its legibility. Serif / Sans Serif “ Serifs” are the small finishing strokes on the end of a character. “ Sans serif” fonts do not have these small finishing strokes. Examples of serif and sans serif letters Point size Point size is perhaps the element most used to describe the legibility of a type.