> When Microsoft made TrueType the standard font format for Windows 3.1, they opted to go with Arial rather than Helvetica, probably because it was cheaper
That's a myth. Microsoft paid a lot of money to MonoType, as I believe they needed to task several full-time employees with the manual hinting of those fonts. The deal probably saved the foundry from bankruptcy.
"As to the widespread notion that Microsoft did not want to pay licensing fees, Allan Haley has publicly stated, more than once, that the amount of money Microsoft paid over the years for the development of Arial could finance a small country."
Would have been interesting to also see a note about Verdana, and know if Microsoft shifting away from Arial as the default sans serif has changed its popularity as much as one might think.
As an old school font snob, I'm a huge fan of Zapf Dingbats, especially those elegant pointing hands. None of the modern brutalist hand emojis can hold a candle to them.
Zapf Dingbats’ little pointing hands are less mere bullets than distilled manicules: their sleek, tapering wrists and attenuated index fingers fuse medieval marginalia’s flourishes with mid-century modernism’s rigor, transforming a humble signpost into a compact, almost fetishized arrow of attention.
They're sleek and minimal enough to function as crisply hard modern bullets, yet they retain a soft, calligraphic, Victorian flourish (the very essence of the medieval manicule, digitized by Hermann Zapf in 1978), making them perfectly at home in a vintage Beagle Bros Apple ][ Software Catalog.
I don't understand the Verdana hate. It's a decent screen font, especially at low resolutions. It may not be ideal for print, but that isn't what it was designed for.
For another reason for this, look up the Linotype trademark case where Microsoft was sued for the pixel font names "Tms Rmn", and "Helv" --- it was to say the least, unpalatable for MS to do business with a company which had trounced them in court.
That poor defenseless font Arial needs Mike Lacher to give it a voice, throw down the gauntlet, and go to the mat in defense of its honor, like he did with Comic Sans!
Helvetica is like vanilla. Often mischaracterised as plain and “default choice”, when done well it’s a distinct taste all of its own. In the hands of a master chef, it can be spectacular. But the majority of it is low effort and low quality.
Readit News
That's a myth. Microsoft paid a lot of money to MonoType, as I believe they needed to task several full-time employees with the manual hinting of those fonts. The deal probably saved the foundry from bankruptcy.
"As to the widespread notion that Microsoft did not want to pay licensing fees, Allan Haley has publicly stated, more than once, that the amount of money Microsoft paid over the years for the development of Arial could finance a small country."
https://www.paulshawletterdesign.com/2011/09/blue-pencil-no-...
It doesn’t make me hate Arial any less.
Would have been interesting to also see a note about Verdana, and know if Microsoft shifting away from Arial as the default sans serif has changed its popularity as much as one might think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapf_Dingbats
https://web.archive.org/web/20220705073411/https://www.inver...
Zapf Dingbats’ little pointing hands are less mere bullets than distilled manicules: their sleek, tapering wrists and attenuated index fingers fuse medieval marginalia’s flourishes with mid-century modernism’s rigor, transforming a humble signpost into a compact, almost fetishized arrow of attention.
They're sleek and minimal enough to function as crisply hard modern bullets, yet they retain a soft, calligraphic, Victorian flourish (the very essence of the medieval manicule, digitized by Hermann Zapf in 1978), making them perfectly at home in a vintage Beagle Bros Apple ][ Software Catalog.
http://asimov.applefritter.com/documentation/advertisements/...
https://beagle.applearchives.com/
How would you like to buy a new pair of hands?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQVgg_yUN20
Personally, I loved it. I think it really encapsulated the idea of it’s so bad that it’s good and really suited the “assembled at home“ vibe.
https://x.com/ItsBadvertising/status/1085972315094044672
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nicolenguyen/slack-new-...
I'll never be able to unsee it. At least it doesn't spin.
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The Scourge of Arial (2001) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10538384 - Nov 2015 (26 comments)
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-comic-sans-asshole
Now it's getting hammered with Papyrus, which has earned two SNL skits for its appearance in Avatar.
I have to admit, though, the New Haas revival is so amazingly good that it makes me want to like Helvetica.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Modern