Comments on: Typography of the Web: Arial and Helvetica

By: Barry B

Barry B — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:43:57 +0000

17 out of 20 on the Helvetica / Arial quiz :)

By: Tyler Shingleton

Tyler Shingleton — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:23:34 +0000

@JohnnyW 20 out of 20. What does that make me, Helvetigod?

By: JohnnyW

JohnnyW — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:43:54 +0000

Such Helvetica snobbery. Ugh.

Someone got tired of hearing people go on and on about Helvetica and so made a quiz to see if people could REALLY tell the difference.

I’ve never met a designer who scored higher than pure luck (~10 out of 20).

See how you do: http://www.ironicsans.com/helvarialquiz/

By: Finding Inspiration in Type + Color

Finding Inspiration in Type + Color — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:09:22 +0000

[...] ipleadthefirst / Andy Mangold – Great hierarchy & color. The mix of bold, upper lower & uppercase are just beautiful. Be sure to read the article while your there. [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:40:52 +0000

@Joseph – Thanks for the thoughtful comment. My opinions and knowledge on all this web type stuff have changed drastically since I wrote this post more than two years ago; I use almost exclusively Verdana for small, sans copy on the web because it is so well hinted across browsers and operating systems.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:08:45 +0000

Interesting post. I have a few comments about web design and helvetica:

Windows and OS X take different approaches to rendering text. While Windows prioritizes clarity, sharpness, and legibility, OS X prioritizes staying true to the font at cost of blurriness.

That is, Windows ClearType will attempt to optimize the text to fit to pixels, and OS X will attempt to best replicate the original font even if it’ll create soft edges. You’ll notice that across different browsers and operating systems, Helvetica looks different. Within Photoshop, the anti-aliasing options (crisp, sharp, strong, etc.) render the text differently.

Arial was designed with the screen in mind (according to Wikipedia, anyway). Helvetica, designed before the modern computer screens, looks great in print or in large sizes but is often misused on the web in a light weight and small size.

I think the best web font is a font designed specifically for the web, for best legibility and sharpness at small sizes (10-16pt). Looks like you’re using Verdana, anyway :)

By: SJ Gregory

SJ Gregory — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:13:36 +0000

…or you could just use Comic Sans.

By: glenn cho

glenn cho — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:23:48 +0000

The overlooked point that is that for most Windows users, their day to day experience of type is at such a sub-par level compared to that of their Mac based compadres, that to quibble about the relative values of Helvetica over Arial is like trying to convince someone who has been raised on Cheese-Whiz and Cheetoes about the merits of Raclette or Gruyere over American.

Im with the camp of Helvetica (first) Arial (second). If youre viewing things on a PC, chances are you won’t even notice the relative grades of quality of the font being used. This ensures that for people viewing web pages on systems that value typography, they will be viewing the best possible iteration of the page.

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:43:45 +0000

@Travis: THANK YOU for being the first person to get that one… took nearly a year and a half.

By: Travis Neilson

Travis Neilson — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:58:42 +0000

Andy, I’m laughing to myself right now because you used Akzidenz-Grotesk in the headline of this post. Funny indeed.