Quote:
Originally Posted by lumpynose
I loved Comic Sans. And then I found out that only heathens and troglodytes like it. Whoops, can't have that. So I stopped using it. I do miss it though; clearly a guilty pleasure.
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It's just that Times New Roman, Arial, and Comic Sans are so very,
very ubiquitous.
Times New Roman combines good legibility with economy of space. Often economy of space isn't that much of a concern, so it can feel a bit cramped. Also it's incredibly boring due to its omnipresence. I will never use Times New Roman by choice, but it would be hard to deny it's fundamentally quite good.
Arial doesn't have the greatest legibility (e.g., there are sans-serif fonts that curve the l to distinguish it from I, and others that add bars to the I, all of which provide better legibility), nor does it have economy of space. If I wanted a vaguely similar sans-serif typeface, I would avoid it in favor of something like Optima or Palatino Sans. I just don't think Arial is very good, besides being almost as overused as TNR.
Comic Sans has better legibility than Arial, better economy of space than Arial without feeling cramped, it's less boring than Arial, and it's not nearly as ubiquitous as Times New Roman. It may not even be overused anymore, because I've rarely seen it this past decade. It has more of a nostalgic '90s feel to me. Fonts have a personality, and people used to use Comic Sans a lot without rhyme or reason. Some might dislike it's lack of a "proper" a or q, but I don't see why. I think that would greatly reduce its impact.
Papyrus is also overused.
There isn't even a clear Comic Sans alternative, although I admit its overly informal playful quality isn't something I've investigated much. Maybe Palatino Sans Informal, or
Architect's Daughter.