A Primer on Type

The three most common typefaces are:
1. Arial (Basterdization of Helvetica, a popular Swiss san serif typeface.

2. Times New Roman ( A standard serif face. Has several names. Like Arial, a default typeface.)

3. Courier (A monospace serif typeface, mimics a typewriter's output.)


These three typefaces have been formatted by a variety type vendors in many language character sets - Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic and Western European. I had to work with them for years, so have developed a major distaste for them.

Instead of Times Roman or Courier, try Palatino Linotype, a beautifully designed typeface, more generously spaced than Times New Roman.

There are lots of san serif faces out there. I personally like Tahoma and Century Gothic, though I have found Arial to work fairly well .

Decorative typefaces and Script are generally not for text sizes. I wouldn't use them below 24 point.

Scripts - love them, I use them a lot. My favorite right now is "Learning Curve" which looks like a perfect form of cursive we learned in grade school. Don't use at text sizes -- it's too difficult to read!

Calligraphic - tend to be fancier than script, more thick/thin stroke contrast.

DO NOT USE ALL CAP SWASH FONTS without their lowercase counterpart--EVER!
I've seen this used on business cards this way. It's illegible and HIDEOUS!

Be careful with free fonts. Some are designed pretty well, but others have irregular stroke width, height and poor spacing between letters. The standard fonts already on your computer from programs like Microsoft Word are generally well controlled for stroke width and spacing.

That's all for now. *grin*