Fun:Comic Sans
Fun:Comic Sans[edit]
Comic Sans is the go-to inappropriate typeface, created by Vincent Connare of Microsoft in 1994. It is often associated with garish font and background colours and other signs of amateurish (web) design. If you're ever wondering, "Hey! Should I use Comic Sans?", there is a very good answer to your question: no.
Comic Sans causes graphic designers some pain. In fact, one of the best reasons to use Comic Sans is to troll graphic designers. (Unless you're using the more refined insult, Papyrus font, though be aware that Papyrus is less frequently supported on the web than Comic Sans).
Dyslexia[edit]
There is a common notion in education that Comic Sans has been measured as scoring particularly well for readability for dyslexics — though there appear to have been no studies specifically measuring Comic Sans itself.[1] There are studies of other typefaces' readability for dyslexics; one such study recommends Helvetica, Courier, Arial, Verdana and Computer Modern.[2]
Comic Sans does have the advantage that the "b", "d", "p" and "q" characters are not flipped versions of each other.
The British Dyslexia Association recommends "sans serif fonts, such as Arial and Comic Sans, as letters can appear less crowded." You should also widen spaces between letters (kerning), spaces between words, and spaces between lines.[3]
Sightings in the wild[edit]
The correct use of Comic Sans does not exist is for things intended for children, such as nursery schools and evangelical churches,Do You Believe That? or otherwise invoke a playful, casual, and welcoming feel.
- As such, PZ Myers uses the font on his blog to display quotes from creationists, other cranks and his hate mail, using a "creationist" CSS class. PZ: "Note: this is exactly as written, except that I had to put it in Comic Sans, simply because Comic Sans is like awesome sauce for crazy."[4]
- Moon landing denialist and all-round crank Ralph Rene used Comic Sans for his website, without any apparent hint of irony.[5]
- Comic Sans appears increasingly acceptable in the world of business, because your boss is also an annoying small child.
- A character named Sans in Undertale speaks in Comic Sans (however, "sans" refers to the type fact lacking serifs, so the name amounts to being literally lacking). And if that's not bad enough, his brother is named and speaks in Papyrus.
In a nutshell[edit]
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
- What's so wrong with Comic Sans?, BBC News, 20 October 2010
- Ban Comic Sans! — Typers of the World, Unite!
- SCP-095-J: Anomalous Typeface
- I’m Comic Sans, Asshole
- Sans Fight Animation
References[edit]
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/sites/default/files/good_fonts_for_dyslexia_study.pdf
- ↑ https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/employer/dyslexia-style-guide-2018-creating-dyslexia-friendly-content
- ↑ e.g.: Genomics is ALL WRONG!, Pharyngula.
- ↑ See ralphrene.com — according to the Internet Archive, the font's been used since the site's first capture in 2008.