What font(s) do you like?

[JSWolf]

I know there are a lot of good looking fonts out there. But for those who do use other then the default font(s) with their eink reader, what fonts do you like to use?

Zelda recommended Fontin in another thread and I've tried it and decided I do like it. It's free and it even has a sans-serif as well as a serif version.



The 505 and 700 allow user specified fonts using ePub.

[cerement]

As long as its:
a) Not Times, Helvetica, or Arial (or one of the many copies of those)
b) Has a decent x-height
c) Is robust enough to be easily readable even on low-res devices
d) Has decent (at least full European) Unicode coverage

A matching serif and sans-serif is a huge plus for layout and design options.

I prefer seriffed faces for reading. Fontin looks nice and has a nice calligraphic feel to it. PMN Caecilia used on the Kindle is nice (and has a beautiful italic) but misses out on decent Unicode coverage (only has West European). Ascender's Droid family on Android devices looks pretty nice and is definately robust enough for low res screens. SIL's Gentium is beautiful and has a huge character set, but is a bit too delicate for low res screens and doesn't have a matching sans. Then there's always the classics of Myriad Web and Minion Web from Adobe, designed for viewing on screen, paired serif and sans-serif.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The 505 and 700 allow user specified fonts using ePub.

Is this the "trick" where you point to a particular file on your Reader (and having a copy of the font saved on the Reader) - or are you embedding the font?

I'm just so afraid of bricking my reader my miscoding the file...I haven't had the nerve to try this yet. I read the "be-really-careful-when-you-try-this" rename-the-font thread, but again...still a wimp.

Oh - and I tend to prefer a san-serif font, when given a choice of one that's not too light on the Reader. I've been happy with Verdana in my PDA, although we just switched to Outlook 2007 at work, and the default Calibri (oops, definite Freudian slip - I typed "Calibre" first ) is pretty nice, too.

For a serifed font, I've been embedding Georgia in my LRFs (it won't work with the serif fonts I've tried, for whatever reason - and Kovid said LRF font-embedding is not consistent, so I gave up trying). That Droid sample below is pretty nice, too!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Is this the "trick" where you point to a particular file on your Reader (and having a copy of the font saved on the Reader) - or are you embedding the font?

I'm just so afraid of bricking my reader my miscoding the file...I haven't had the nerve to try this yet. I read the "be-really-careful-when-you-try-this" rename-the-font thread, but again...still a wimp.

see this thread for detailed instructions on how to use custom fonts on the 505 and 700. there's no danger of bricking ; you just add custom css in calibre when you export your epub file, and add the fonts to the memory. it doesn't interfere with the firmware at all. and it makes for a really nice reading experience. but, it doesn't work with lrf, only epub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

see this thread for detailed instructions on how to use custom fonts on the 505 and 700. there's no danger of bricking ; you just add custom css in calibre when you export your epub file, and add the fonts to the memory. it doesn't interfere with the firmware at all. and it makes for a really nice reading experience. but, it doesn't work with lrf, only epub.

The eBook I am currently reading needed a bit of tweaking to get it just right. It's a Mobipocket to ePub conversion and I've had to sort it out so I could use Fontin_Sans for the chapter and section font. It does look quite nice now that I've gone and tweaked the CSS and the HTML. One thing I really like with Fontin is that at the normal size, it's very readable. I get I think 30 or 32 lines per page.

[JSWolf]

Droid does look nice except the sans serif version is missing an italic version.

[Andybaby]

some fonts do look better than others, i did a test of 19 fonts comparing the contrast between Text and Background.

I embed in LRFs, the 700 this works fine, 505s are laggy with embedded LRFs, but epubs dont look nearly as nice as LRF's i can make using BD

Currently im using Heltivica, after jumping between bookman, Dejavu Serif, Verdana, and Georgia. I am really liking Heltivica, it really makes it easy to read, thats why the MTA uses it

Im having Problems taking a decent photo. but here are my 16 source files for the following 20 fonts (the Adobe fonts Suggested didnt work) you may look at them your your 505 or 700 http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/316154/Font%20Test.rar Files are in LRF, book is the Gods of Mars, I added a Second paragraph with the ABC's

Adobe Caslon Pro: Not Embedable
Adobe Garamond Pro: Not Embedable
Adobe Heiti STD: Not Embedable
Arial: 342, Very Good Readability
Baskerville: 319, Very Poor Readability
Bell MT: 326, Poor Readability
Bodoni MT: 334, Average Readability
Bookman Old Style: 371, Very Good Readability
Calibri: 330, Good Readability
Comic Sans: 392, Very Good Readability
DejaVu Serif: 379, Very Good Readability
Franklin Gothic Book: 333, Good Readability
Georgia: 346, Good Readability
Gill Sans MT: 324, Very Good Readability
Helvetica World: 380, Very Good Readability
Lucida Bright: 371, Good Readability
Lucida Sans: 369, Good Readability
Minion Pro: Not Embedable
Times New Roman: 324, Good Readability
Verdana: 377, Very Good Readability

when I talk about Readability i am Talking Contrast, How well the Letters Jump out at you.
Sans fonts are Generally Better than Serif fonts but DejaVU Serif and Bookma OLD Style are Clearly Better than Times and my now old favorite, Georgia.

now taking the most readable fonts with the highest contrast. we have a few Choices

Sans Serif
Arial: 342, Very Good Readability
Gill Sans MT: 324, Very Good Readability
Helvetica World: 380, Very Good Readability
Verdana: 377, Very Good Readability

Serif
Bookman Old Style: 371, Very Good Readability
DejaVu Serif: 379, Very Good Readability

Comic Sans?!
Comic Sans: 392, Very Good Readability

You can use this site to Compare them http://www.typetester.org/ on what you like. for me i Prefer DejaVU Serif, I dobut anyone wants to read a book in comic sans, but my brother did. some people are like that. All the Sans Serif fonts are normal, save for Gill sans which is interestingly different.

The Sans Serif fonts, 3/5 of the winners are webfonts, while in the Serif Category, none of the webfonts had a high enough contrasts ratio.

[cerement]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

Currently im using Heltivica, after jumping between bookman, Dejavu Serif, Verdana, and Georgia. I am really liking Heltivica, it really makes it easy to read, thats why the MTA uses it

Helvetica is a classic, but for a sans-serif, it suffers legibility problems like all of the grotesque family does -- the counters on lowercase letters, especially 'e' and 's' close up too much (under bad conditions -- like screen resolution -- an 's' can become a miniature '8'). For decent results on screen, a humanist sans-serif with large x-height and detailed hinting will give you your best results. Verdana is a bit wide for normal usage, but Calibri, Lucida, and Myriad would be my recommendations.

MTA doesn't rely on long-distance viewing so they can focus more on style. DoT is currently switching over to ClearviewHwy because they need high visibility and readability under all conditions.

[Andybaby]

well im just using it on my 700, so any problems due to small size get thrown out the window.

but in fact i can read Heltivica from much further away from my eyes then any other font i tried, Especially Serif Fonts.

i dont mind the size of books. a 400 Page paper back is usually about 1200 pages on Heltivica with the margins and line height and word spacing that i like. (less if im reading in the SUN as i go down a font size.

I have the paper back in front of me for the book im reading
but i really just hated it. i havent read a paper book in over a year, i tried, it was terrible. i went back to the EBook version that wasnt a great scan, but still id rather have the OCR issuse than the low readabilty of this book.

[Jellby]

I'm mainly with cerement.

I prefer serif fonts for reading. For a time I used Constantia, and it was nice, but the old-style numbers were getting on my nerves. Then I changed to Droid and it has been a pleasure since then, I don't pay attention to the font anymore, everytime I try another one I quickly return to Droid. The only "issue" I've found so far is that non-spacing Cyrillic accents don't seem to look right, but I don't read Cyrillic anyway, and accents aren't that common there.

[Ea]

I really like Fontin (serif) and Maiandra.

Over all, I prefer fonts to be rounded and 'soft' - not too hard or spiky angles or corners. And if I have to use a commonly used font, Georgia works fine.

[Sweetpea]

Currently I'm using DejaVu Serif Condensed. I only recently decided to load a serif font, and I must say, I rather like it better than I thought I would...

[bwaldron]

On my Cybook, I use Constantia almost exclusively.

[Hypernova]

I tried DejaVu Serif(and condensed) and Fontin. They are definitely more "readable" in the sense that if I have to spell each word, it would be easier. However, for some reason I found Constantia looks better in the sense that it "disappeared", so that is my choice for now.

Caecilia is not free, right?

[cerement]

Originally Posted by Hypernova

Caecilia is not free, right?

No, Caecilia is just the default font on the Kindle.